


The Photographer

by Acro111



Series: Sara Webb and the Islands of Death [1]
Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25101832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acro111/pseuds/Acro111
Summary: John Hammond needs to start advertising if he hopes to open by years end, and Sara Webb, despite her age, is the best person for the job. Hammond spares no expense to have her come to the island to photograph his expert guests and grandchildren as they take the maiden tour of his island.
Series: Sara Webb and the Islands of Death [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817983
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. San Jose Airport

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara meets some of her subjects and sizes them up.

Sara fiddled with the lens on her Nikon N90. She wanted everything to be perfect for the first picture, and was already in place by the gate waiting for the subjects to arrive. 

She glanced up, feeling eyes watching her, and met the cool, dark gaze of Dr. Ian Malcolm. She involuntarily shuddered, the man was old enough to be her father— _”gross.”_ She shook it off, instead, she steeled her gaze and studied him in return. He was a tanned man, with thick, black, curly hair in a mop atop his head. He wore tinted glasses that were currently perched atop his head, keeping his hair out of his face. Even from her distance she could see beads of sweat building up on his forehead, but that was his own damn fault as he was wearing all black. Head to toe. Black.

Dr. Malcolm was leaning against the off-white wall of the airport hanger with his hands in his pockets. To Sara, he gave off a cool-guy vibe, and appeared very collected, but there was something that screamed “insecure” about him. Perhaps it was the fact that he refused to admit his wardrobe was a horrible choice in the middle of summer in Central America.

Sara moved onto her next subject, easily cleaning her camera off once more with practiced wipes. 

Donald Gennaro. Lawyer. And he wasn’t too happy to be there, or happy to see her, or happy to be held up. He was sitting on the bench near Dr. Malcolm, his pale, hairy leg was bouncing as he checked his watch every five seconds. From her peripheral, she could see Dr. Malcom turned his head to look at Gennaro and then she saw him smirk. Gennaro was in a cream-grey suit jacket, white button up and tie, with khaki shorts, high white socks, and loafers. He was a joke. Sara looked back down at her camera bag, rifling through it and pretended to not be running their brief meeting a few minutes ago in her head for the hundredth time.

She had timidly walked through the airport, looking for the specific gate John Hammond had told her about in the fax he sent. When she got there, Dr. Malcolm and Gennaro were already there.

“Hi,” she tried to greet them as kindly as possible, “I’m Sara Webb, photographer for the weekend.” She held out her hand, hoping they didn't notice how much she was shaking. This was her one chance, and she didn't want to blow it.

Dr. Malcom had been quick to take it, “Well Miss Webb, if Hammond’s hired someone so,” he looked her up and down, “young—,”

 _“Childish.”_ Sara’s brain automatically corrected in her head. She didn't belong on this trip and she knew it.

“Then you must be the best and brightest in your field.” Dr. Malcolm smiled at her, finishing his slow handshake.

Sara gripped the strap to her camera bag, “Uhh,” was all she could spit out at the time.

Gennaro, however, was a bit more honest about her presence, “I’m sorry, photographer? What was John thinking?! This isn’t a vacation!” She awkwardly stood by while Gennaro ranted, which is when Malcolm told her that Gennaro was John’s lawyer and he wasn’t mad at her per say, just mad at John and mad at the fact he was missing his daughter’s birthday party.

Back in the present, Sara looked up when she heard a jovial laugh echo down the near empty hanger of the airport. She quickly brought her camera to her face, focusing on John Hammond as he shook hands and introduced everyone in the group.

John was an older, Scottish gent, with thinning white hair (currently hiding under a straw hat) and a big, thick, bushy white beard. He wore all white—a contrast to Dr. Malcolm—

Sara made sure to keep the two separated so as to bring contrast to the pictures.

With him were a man and a woman _”Thank God!”_ The man wore a blue denim button up, with a red bandana tied around his neck, khaki pants, and dark brown boots. This was a man ready to hike. He was also older, could be as old as her father, his hair was tawny, which Sara could see was plastered down with sweat from the Indiana Jones style hat he held in his hands. His skin was rough, this was a man who spent his days in harsh sunlight with little protection.

The woman wore a peach colored button up, khaki shorts, and boots as well. She too looked ready to take on the wilderness. Her blonde hair was currently back in a messy bun, her glasses were also sitting on top of her head, but this was less a fashion choice and more a practical one. She was slightly younger than the man beside her, but Sara figured she must be around his age as they came walking up hand in hand. But, she also wasn’t one to judge (hell, her own parents were eighteen years apart in age). She too looked like she spent way too much time in the sun for a regular doctor. As she finished snapping photos, John must have noticed her when she stood up.

“Ah! Miss Webb!” He hobbled over, his bamboo cane providing little assistance. Sara held her hands out as a precaution should he fall, but he made it to her just fine and shook her hand enthusiastically. His hands were somehow soft and rough at the same time, like a man who knows how to work hard, but hasn’t had to in a long time. “Delighted to meet ya face to face!” John smiled a toothy grin at her.

Sara felt a small twinge of guilt as she pulled her hand back. _“Note to self, portrait picture, mouth closed.”_ She told herself as she smiled awkwardly at John. “It’s very nice to finally meet you, Mr. Hammond.” She answered.

“Now,” Sara was startled when John pulled her over to the group, “I’ve learned you’ve already met Dr. Malcom and Mr. Gennaro, but this is Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler,” he introduced the man and woman to her.

“Oh,” Sara quickly threw her camera bag strap around her body, moving her bag aside. “Sara Webb, nice to meet you. I’ll be your photographer for the weekend.” She stuck her hand out. She swallowed hard, hoping they wouldn't comment on how sweaty her hands were.

“Photographer?” Dr. Sattler asked, tentatively shaking her hand. They were rough, but not painfully so. She obviously took care of her hands.

“We’re due to open next year, and I want everything to be ready and perfect for when we start to advertise,” John explained, his cheeks a rosey red as his face was spread in a wide smile. “Miss Webb will be taking photos of you lot enjoying the park.” Sara turned and awkwardly shook hands with Dr. Grant. His hands were extremely coarse, cracked and calloused. He worked hard and passionately.

“John—!” Gennaro began to protest when John held up a hand.

“Ah! The helicopter is here.” He took off with a hobble down the loading bay, not waiting a moment for everyone to scramble after him.

“John,” Gennaro picked up his little suitcase and ran after the surprisingly spry old man. “This isn’t some luxurious vacation! I can not believe you would bring—!”

“Miss Webb is excellent at what she does. And imagine, seeing famed Dr. Grant and the company—-admiring the park!” Hammond threw his hands wide. Dr. Grant followed behind stiffly, embarrassed at being called out in such a way. Sara's stomach did flips, another weight added to her shoulders. She made sure her weekend backpack was zipped and her wallet secured inside as Hammond greeted the young girl at their gate. They followed him single file down the jetway to a spiral staircase. Out on the tarmac sat a white and blue helicopter, Sara waited outside, snapping pics of their little troupe as they filed into the craft. One of the airport workers took their weekend luggage and stowed it away.

Once inside Sara found herself sitting beside Gennaro, and stayed quiet most of the trip over. She knew the bare minimum about this weekend. John had been isolating himself and several construction crews on an island off the coast of Costa Rica. He claims to have been setting up a biological reserve, but was tight lipped about what kind of animals he would be caring for. This weekend was meant to prove the island was safe and ready for guests, and Sara was there to take pictures to promote the park. She’d been told to take as many pictures of completed structures as she could, as well as approved behind the scenes pictures, and pictures of Hammond and his guests enjoying the park. They’d stay the night at the unfinished resort (Sara could take pictures of her room, but nothing that still had construction tarps around it), John would show them some of the unfinished attractions, as well as security, and then on their third day on the island they’d return to the mainland around midday. 

After several moments of silence where all that could be heard was Dr. Malcolm chewing his gum, the man in all black spoke up. “So you two, uh, dig up—dig up dinosaurs?” Clearly his suave guy routine was just an act. Sara rolled her eyes as Dr. Sattler chuckled politely.

“We try to.” Dr. Grant answered quietly.

This was apparently humorous to Dr. Malcolm as he burst into hysterics. “You’ll have to forgive, Dr. Malcolm,” John apologized, “he suffers from a deplorable excess of personality, especially for a mathematician—“

“Chaotician! Chaotician, actually.” Dr. Malcolm corrected. “John doesn’t subscribe to chaos, especially what one has to say about his little science project.”

That was interesting. Sara perked up. _”What does John Hammond want with two Paleontologists and a Chaotician?”_

“Codswallop, Ian, you’ve never been able to sufficiently explain your concerns with—“ John rolled his eyes.

“Oh John, John, John,” Dr. Malcolm tsked the older man with a wide smirk, “because the behavior of systems in phase space?” He teased.

“A load, if I may say so, of fashionable number crunching—I do wish you wouldn’t do that!” John smacked Dr. Malcolm’s hand off his knee and Sara had to suppress a snort.

Dr. Malcolm found this amusing and he stuck another piece of gum in his mouth to chew, “Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, you’ve heard of Chaos Theory?” He asked, turning to the two sitting beside John.

Dr. Sattler smiled politely, “No.” she admitted while Dr. Grant shook his head.

“No?” He turned and looked around Gennaro, “Miss Webb?”

Shocked she was being included, it took a second for Sara to respond. She shook her head. But Chaos Theory was exactly the crazy, out there idea she figured Dr. Malcolm would be the one to study.

Dr. Malcolm looked shocked, “No?” He repeated, “non-linear equations?” He tried. Sara shook her head once more, she could see Dr. Sattler and Dr. Grant shook their heads as well. “Strange attractions?” Again, they all shook their heads ‘no’, but this time Dr. Malcolm just leaned on the arm rest and smirked at Dr. Sattler, “Dr. Sattler, I refuse to believe that you aren’t familiar with the concept of attraction.” He chuckled.

Sara sat back in her seat, uncomfortable. Dr. Grant across from her rolled his eyes and turned away from the conversation as well. But Dr. Sattler gave him a sheepish smile and turned to bury her face in Dr. Grant’s shoulder.

John huffed at Gennaro, “I bring scientists, you bring a rock star.” Gennaro, who had been spaced out the entire time, blinked in shock and motioned to himself like “me? What did I do?”

Before anyone else could say anything, their pilot made an announcement, “we are nearing Isla Nublar, sir.”

The helicopter turned just enough that they could see the high, lush mountains on the shore of the island. “There it is.” John pointed at the towering peaks with awe. Sara quickly raised her camera and got a few shots of the coast and mountains, then she quickly turned and snapped pictures of everyone’s first reaction to the island. John was smiling proudly, as one might expect, and thankfully none of the other guests noticed her or looked at the camera. The helicopter turned and flew straight on between two mountains. They flew another minute or so over the trees and sheer cliffs before slowing to a stop in the air.

“Bad wind shears,” John warned them, “we have to drop pretty fast, so hold on, because it can be just a little thrilling.” Just then the helicopter dropped like a stone and they all nearly flew out of their seats. Sara’s heart was in her throat as she clung to her seat for dear life. “Wa-hoo.” John chuckled as they all braced for another drop. She could hear everyone clicking in their seatbelts and she quickly, with shaking hands, did the same. While she still felt like she’d slip out at any second, the idea of safety was enough to calm her nerves and notice that Dr. Grant was struggling with his seatbelt. He’d accidentally picked up the female end of his belt and the female end of the empty seat beside him.

“No, Dr. Grant,” Sara tried to reach across and grab the right side of the seatbelt but the helicopter quickly dropped and bounced back up, making Sara fling herself to the back of her seat. She was afraid of flying upwards and hitting her head, and she clung to her camera bag to protect the lenses and back up film inside from jostling around.

Dr. Sattler and John attempted to help Dr. Grant, “look, we’ll have landed by the time you get it right!” John joked. Dr. Grant gave up and simply tied his two ends together. He then gave Dr. Sattler a smirk and he motioned to the tied belts on his lap.


	2. The Visitor Center

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara finds out what John has been up to on his island and watches an informative video.

Sara was last out of the helicopter, and she turned to take in her surroundings. They were in a small alcove between the steep, lush mountains. Behind the landing pad was a small lake that was fed by the waterfall high above it. Sara felt a twinge of sadness, realizing a beautiful natural spring had been half destroyed by John’s construction. She didn’t have too much time to think about it though, as John called her over to the pair of jeeps they had. “You’ll be with Gennaro and me,” He said, pulling a lever on the side of the passenger seat and letting it fold shut and slide forward. Both men waited for Sara to enter, which she did awkwardly. She could feel Gennaro’s tightly knitted brows and angry stare follow her. She didn’t sit, however, as John climbed in. She rested her arms on the bar over the jeep, and shot pictures of Dr. Sattler, Dr. Grant, and Dr. Malcolm in their jeep. Once John was in, Gennaro pulled the lever on the seat and pushed it back upright. He climbed in and started going through his suitcase. Their jeep honked at the doctor’s jeep, and the two lurched forward on the dirt path. Sara sat back down and stared at the tall, double-fenced doors that they drove through.

 _“What in the world is John doing here?”_ She glanced at the old man beside her. Gennaro turned in his seat. He had been busily scribbling on a clipboard since they’d started down their bumpy path. “The full eighty miles perimeter fences are in place?” Gennaro asked, his eyebrow quirked, and pen poised over his clipboard.

John rolled his eyes, resting his hands on his cane, “and the concrete motes,” he nodded, “and the motion sensor tracking system. Donald, dear boy, relax, try to enjoy yourself.” John teased him. Sara’s eyes widened with every thing that came out of John’s mouth.

Concrete moats?

80 miles of fence?

A tracking system?

This sounded more like the setup for a most dangerous game. Sara’s stomach did flip flops as they careened through dense overgrowth. Leaves and branches smacked the jeep. Clearly this path had been taken enough that they weren’t going over small trees and stumps, but it wasn't so much that any proper maintenance had been done to keep nature away from the vehicles.

Gennaro smiled, humoring him, “Let’s get something straight, John,” his eyes hardened and Sara pretended to be focused on her camera, “This isn’t a weekend excursion, this is a serious test of the stability of this island. Your investors, whom I represent, are deeply concerned. In forty eight hours from now, if they’re not convinced,” he turned his pen to motion to the doctors’ jeep, “I’m not convinced.” He turned the pen towards himself, “I’ll shut you down, John.” Gennaro warned.

Sara knew she wasn’t included in his little clipboard of notes, or whatever all those chicken scratch scribbles were, but it still stung to not be acknowledged. Part of Sara wanted to defend John, even with knowing nothing about him or this island.

But John chuckled, “in forty eight hours, I’ll be accepting your apology.” He teased. They continued through lush jungle, and despite the heat, Sara felt perfectly fine. The humidity was a little on the sticky side, but it wasn’t unbearable, and there were hardly any bugs. Of course, that could just be because they were whipping through the trees so quickly, but it was (aside from the bumps) a surprisingly nice ride. 

Sara turned to John, “Mind a picture?” She asked, holding her camera up.

“Not at all,” he smiled a toothy smile at her. Despite her earlier mental note, his smile, combined with the lushness, and vividness of the greenery behind him, made him look too dang approachable. He seemed so casual and open hearted, she had to snap a picture to capture the moment. She smiled and thanked him.

“No, thank you, dear,” John returned, “I know you’ll do this place justice.” 

She smiled at his flattery with only a slight twinge of guilt returning to twist the knot in her stomach. They broke through the tree line, coming to a fairly open field. There was no path here, but the drivers of their jeeps seemed to know where they were going. Occasionally there was a sprig of trees, but for the most part, it was just rolling fields.

John lightly smacked her leg as he leaned forward, “Hold on, hold on! Stop! Stop! Stop!” He whispered. Gennaro looked up from his clipboard as they grinded to a halt. Sara looked up as John finished smacking her leg and felt her heart stop. She didn’t even wait for anyone to say anything or react, she stood up, turned without tearing her eyes away, and jumped out of the jeep. John chuckled and followed her, albeit at a safer pace.

Sara didn’t notice. Her camera hung around her neck, she wanted to take as much in without a filter or lens as possible. Her brain had even forgone the best way to frame her subject matter—

She was breathless.

It was breathtaking.

It was **_impossible._**

It was a dinosaur.

Once Sara’s heart started up again there was no stopping it. It rattled so wildly in her chest that she started shaking. She took a shaky breath. Tears burned the corners of her eyes. 

“It’s,” she could hear Dr. Grant behind her as her feet carried her even closer to the magnificent brachiosaurus, “It’s a dinosaur.”

“Uh huh.” Dr. Sattler was just as speechless.

“Throw out the whole rulebook,” Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler stood on either side of her, “the thing is totally wrong! This thing is a warm-bodied creature!” He exclaimed. They all craned their necks back to look at the creature as it lazily ate leaves off the top branches of the trees nearby.

“This thing doesn’t live in a swamp.” Dr. Sattler sounded tearful.

Sara snapped out of her daze. She took a few more steps forward then turned and snapped a few quick pictures of their reactions. She focused her camera and zoomed in on Dr. Malcolm, he looked just as teary and breathless as the rest of them, and she snapped a picture. She turned back to the brachiosaurus as Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler kept talking and snapped a few pictures. It was tan in color, dark towards its back, lighter on its stomach, just like some modern day birds and fish. It’s body was absolutely massive, skin and muscles constantly moving as the dinosaur shifted. It roared, though it sounded more akin to a trumpet or elephant cry than an actual roar.

“This thing has a — what — a twenty five, twenty seven foot neck.” Dr. Grant observed.

“Brachiosaur,” John joined them, “thirty.” He informed them.

“Thirty,” Dr. Grant repeated breathlessly. The brachiosaurus trumpeted again. Sara felt content with her shots and lowered her camera in time to see the creature rear up on its hind legs. Her eyes widened. She knew it was her job to document the best parts of the park, but this felt too special to document. It leaned its neck forward, grabbing at the top branches, and snapping them off as it lurched forward and landed with an earth shattering shake. 

“How fast are they?” Dr. Grant asked.

“Well, we clocked the T-Rex at thirty two miles per hour.” John explained, still looking at his dinosaur with pride. Sara whipped around as she heard the words ‘T-Rex’ and Dr. Sattler did the same.

“T— T-Rex?” Dr. Sattler repeated. “You said you’ve got a T-Rex?” She glanced around, as if expecting the tyrant lizard to burst from the trees at any moment. Sara was afraid as well, and stepped closer to the group.

John nodded in response to her questions. Dr. Grant staggered and grabbed his shoulders.

“Say again.” He demanded breathlessly.

“We have a T-Rex.” John said with a laugh.

Dr. Grant pulled away, doubling over as though he may faint. “Dr. Grant, my Dear Dr. Sattler.”

“Put— put your head between your knees.” Dr. Sattler attempted to steady Dr. Grant as he collapsed into the grass.

Sara went to check on him, laying a hand on his shoulder as she looked to John. He was facing a large open field, and she followed his gaze. Sara’s knees buckled as she joined Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler on the ground. In the distance she saw a whole herd of Parasaurolophus and Brachiosaurus socializing and playing at a lake.

John stood before them, “Welcome.” she could almost hear the pleased grin on his face, “To Jurassic Park.” She finally blinked the tears out of her eyes. 

She snapped a single picture as Dr. Grant tearfully said, “they’re moving in herds. They do move in herds.” 

She continued to watch, even as Dr. Grant and John whispered to each other. She kept watching when they finally stood up, and she was still watching as John guided her back into the jeep. It was a beautiful sight with the sunlight reflecting off the lake, the Parasaurolophus drinking at the shore line, and the Brachiosaurus cooling off by submerging themselves up to the base of their necks in the water. 

They continued their drive, which was silent as everyone basked in the aftermath of what they had just witnessed, and John sat smugly in his seat. Sara was in shock. What John had done was nothing short of a miracle. Dinosaurs. Living, breathing dinosaurs. Not skeletons! Not cheesy Disney animatronics, or run-down museum exhibits. 

Physical, touchable, living—LIVING—Dinosaurs! 

Her heart was pounding in her throat, regretting that she had only brought six reels of film for three days. She hadn't planned on taking more than 40 or so pictures a day, and now she was regretting being under prepared. With subjects like these she could go through six in one day! Her mind raced as she tried to comprehend how John must have accomplished this, the team of scientists, engineers, and animal behaviorists he must have had to help him! No wonder John was so tight lipped about his little island! Sara’s hands trembled as she thought of holding onto a secret so momentous, so world-changing, so time-altering as reanimating a creature that has been dead over sixty-five millions years! She couldn’t contain herself and she tried her best to hide her hyperventilating. 

Thankfully, if John, Gennaro, or their driver noticed then they didn’t say anything. 

They pulled through another double-fence gate, pulling up to a large, sprawling building. There was still scaffolding around parts of the outside, where construction workers worked tirelessly in the sun. The thatched roof looked like it was made out of dried palm leaves, and looked very tropical yet regal. The workers didn’t even flinch at their arrival, and after waiting for everyone to exit their jeeps the company followed John up the stairs to the large building. On either side of the stairs were soft, gentle waterfalls The doors, as well as the wall surrounding the doors were embossed fossils, and painted a dark, earthy tone compared to the off-white of the rest of the building. 

Two workers opened the doors from the inside, and John greeted everyone as they entered. “G’day! G’day! G’day! Welcome!” He addressed them, “to the most advanced amusement park in the entire world.” Sara was slightly disappointed to find the inside was still under construction as it was truly gorgeous and she wanted to take a picture of the main attraction. The skeletons of a T-Rex and Brachiosaurus, locked in battle, stood on rocks embedded with more fossils in the center of the building under a golden dome. A banner hung between two pillars reading **“When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth”**. A single, large, curved staircase curved around the T-Rex and led to the second floor.

“And I’m not just talking about rides,” John jabbered on, “everybody has rides, no, we’ve made,” he started climbing the stairs, “living, biological attractions so astounding, that they’ll capture the imagination of the entire world.” They followed him up, Sara looked around as she took in every meticulous detail.

“So what do you think?” Dr. Sattler asked Dr. Grant.

“That we’re out of a job.” Dr. Grant sheepishly admitted.

Dr. Malcolm smirked as he ran to pass them by, “don’t you mean, “extinct”?” He teased.

Sara had to crack a smile at his pun. It was cheesy and cringy, but so well placed. _“Well done, bravo, Dr. Malcolm.”_ She said to herself. He glanced back at her and winked. She averted her gaze, _“way to ruin it.”_ She thought, gagging internally at this attempt to be smooth. She may have been of legal age, but she had preferences, and a type that was a little closer to her in age. Instead she focused on the skeletons once more. John led them to a door and walked in. He ushered them to sit down as they entered. When Sara squeezed in she saw they were in a little theater. 

And it was truly a little theater. With around thirty, thick, red theater seats (complete with—gasp—cup holders!), a screen with the Jurassic Park logo fossilized on it, and a projector in the back, it was a cozy little space. There were steel bars in front of every seat, and Sara decided to sit on the very end, just in case the opportunity for a picture came up. 

“Ah! Here he comes,” John sighed, “or, well, here I come,” Sara turned in confusion to see John Hammon hobbling towards them on the screen. 

This John, however, was wearing a black suit, rather than his current all white getup. Everyone settled in, curious at the sight before them, as John (err—the REAL John) walked up to the front of the room by the screen.

 _“Hello!”_ The film John greeted.

John turned to them expectantly, “Say ‘hello’! Say ‘hello’!” He urged them.

“Hello,”

“Hi,”

Sara opted for a wave.

 _“Hello John!”_ The film John boomed.

“Oh!” John patted his pockets, pulling out a folded up piece of paper and resituating his glasses on his face, “yes, right. I’ve got lines.”

 _“Well fine, fine, I guess”_ the film John waited patiently, _“but, uhh, how did I get here?”_ He asked.

“Well, I’ll show you,” John said, “first,” he read off his script, “I'll need a drop of blood.” He turned to the film version of himself. The video zoomed in to a bust shot of John. “Your blood.” He clarified.

Real John held his fingers together, like he was holding a small needle and he jabbed at the finger film John was holding out for him. Film John winced and quickly pulled away with a shocked gasp. _“John, that hurt!”_ Film John sounded betrayed.

“Relax, John,” real John chuckled, “it’s all a part of the miracle of cloning.”

The camera zoomed back out to the original shot and a second (technically third) John Hammond stepped out from behidnthe first (technically second) John.

_“Hello John.”_

__

__

_“Hello John.”_ They greeted each other.

Another Hammond stepped out on the other side, _“Hello John.”_

__

__

_“Hello.”_

On and on, more John Hammond stepped out from the Hammond before them, all of them greeting each other in the same perky voice. As they spawned, the real John hobbled over and sat beside Gennaro. The doctors huddled together, whispering something, and Sara instinctively shushed them, her entire focus on the screen.

Then, a whooshing noise interrupted the clones, and a cartoon string of colorful circles came out of the John who had had his finger pricked.

It tapped on John’s shoulder with a cartoon glove then zipped around. John looked around wildly. _“What? What?”_ He questioned before spotting the giggling strand of circles. _“Ah! Mr. DNA, where did you come from?”_ John chirped. 

The strand of circles, now forming a serpent shaped body with arms, hands, mouth and eyes, pointed at John’s finger, _“From your blood!”_ The voice sounded slightly southern, and was very charming. Sara could just imagine a gaggle of kids watching the video with wide eyes and giggling at the cartoon character. 

_“Just one drop of your blood contains billions of strands of DNA, the building blocks of life.”_ The clones disappeared as the screen turned bright blue with a white grid overlay. Mr. DNA squeezed through an unseen barrier and popped onto the screen, _“A DNA strand, like me,”_ he pointed to himself, a musical score emphasizing his every move, _“is a blueprint for building a living thing,”_ as he spoke, Mr. DNA turned into a building with square eyes, and then into the shape of a brachiosaur. _“And sometimes animals that went extinct millions of years ago, left their blueprints behind for us to find,”_ Mr. DNA rolled up the screen, _“we just had to know where to look.”_ He said cheekily. 

There was a cartoon mosquito on the screen, that began noisily sucking blood as Mr. DNA continued, _“A hundred million years ago there were mosquitoes, just like today, and just like today, they fed on the blood of animals!”_ The mosquito was filled with red blood and flew off, revealing that it had been sucking blood from a brachiosaur, _“Even dinosaurs!”_ The mosquito flew around the prehistoric, cartoon environment before landing on a tree, _“sometimes, after biting a dinosaur, the mosquito would land on the branch of a tree and get stuck in the sap.”_

The cartoon footage was exchanged for live footage, which showed amber colored ooze slowly covering a mosquito while the played squelching sounds made Sara grimace. _“After a long time, the tree sap would get hard,”_ the cartoon came back and showed a fossilized bit of sap at the bottom of the screen. There were layers of earth around and above it, and two workers in mining helmets dug a winding tunnel from the top of the screen to the bottom as Mr. DNA continued, _“and become fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone! Preserving the mosquito inside.”_

The video changed back to real footage, showing a young man meticulously drilling a thin hole into the amber. _“This fossilized tree sap, which we call ‘Amber’ waited for millions of years, with the mosquito inside!”_ The man stopped drilling and pulled out a long needle, _“until Jurassic Park scientists came along. Using sophisticated techniques, they extracted the preserved blood, and—“_ the needle pricked the mosquito, _“bingo!”_ The needle filled with blood, _“Dino DNA!”_

_“A full DNA strand contains three billion genetic codes,”_ Sara’s eyes widened as the screen filled with blurred lines of text all racing by. Some got close to Mr. DNA and he had to dodge them, _“if we looked at screens like these once a second for eight hours a day, it would take two years to look at the entire DNA strand. It’s that long.”_ He said proudly. _“Since it’s so old—!”_ Mr. DNA was whipped off screen, caught by a DNA strand, he reformed in the center of the screen, _“it’s full of holes, now that’s where our geneticists take over.”_

The video switched to real life footage of scientists in a lab, _“thinking machine super computers and virtual reality displays,”_ Mr. DNA explained as the camera showed a man manipulating nothing, yet turning a DNA strand on a computer, _“show our geneticist the gaps in the DNA sequence.”_

The cartoon came back and showed a cute croaking frog that made Sara smile, _“we used the complete DNA of a frog to fill in the holes,”_ the frog turned into a broken DNA sequence, _“and complete the code!”_ Mr. DNA rushed to fill in the broken spot. He wiped his nonexistent forehead off, _“whew!”_ He smiled, _“and now, we can make a baby dinosaur.”_

He pulled a cord, the cartoon flipped as though he’d pulled the cord to some blinds. A large, lone egg sat in a cartoonishly small nest. The egg cracked and then broke as Mr. DNA’s head popped out and eventually shifted into a Brachiosaurs head and body as it marched off.

“This score is only temporary of course, harump bump bump,” John drummed dramatically, “has a whole march or something,” John explained, “it hasn’t quite been written yet, and then, of course, the tour moves on.”


	3. The Photographer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara meets Dr. Wu and Ray Arnold before lunch

The steel bars in front of the chairs lowered with a clunk. Sara grabbed the bar, startled, however, her effort to keep herself from being caught was futile. She could hear hydraulics hissing as the small theater moved to the left. 

_“Well,”_ They could still hear Mr. DNA’s voice, _“Looky here! Those hard working cowpoke you see behind the glass—”_ The theater had turned from a solid concrete wall to be in view of a large laboratory. There were tables, shelves, and all sorts of equipment that Sara could never hope to understand how they worked. People were busily at work, not paying the moving tour group any mind.

“This is amazing, John,” Sara could hear Gennaro say, “are these characters...auto….auto-rotica?”

Sara stifled a snort. She squeezed her camera out from under the bar and took pictures of the half a dozen or so scientists, all dressed in full white body suits and gloves, moving about the room. “No, no.” John assured him, “We have no animatronics here. These people are the real miracle worker of Jurassic Park.” And the room kept spinning.

“Wa-wait a second!” Dr. Grant protested, “Ho-How do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?” He asked. 

Dr. Sattler turned excitedly, “Can’t we see the unfertilized eggs?” she asked, sounding like a kid who’d been told their favorite movie had been cancelled. 

“Shortly, shortly.” John reassured them.

Sara pushed at the lap bar, grunting when it didn’t move, “Can’t you stop this thing?” She asked. She’d hoped she could slip out, maybe cause the ride to stop so the doctor’s could get out.

“I’m sorry,” John apologized, “It--It’s kind of a ride.” He explained.

The doctor’s had all turned to look at Sara when she spoke up and watched her as she was struggling to push up the lap bar. She looked at them, hoping they caught her drift. To her surprise, Dr. Malcolm did. He turned and grabbed his lap bar, “Here,” he motioned to the other two. Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler glanced at Sara and then at Dr. Malcolm, “Three, two, one, go.” All four pushed up on the lap bar. The mechanisms hissed and groaned at being moved before their programming allowed them to release. With the four of them free, they hurried to the emergency exit at the back of the theater. 

Sara was the first to the door, she pushed it open and broke into a maintenance hallway. She ran back towards the direction of the lab, however, the only door in that direction took them through another small hallway and then back into the atrium of the Visitor’s Center. “Wha-at?” She staggered to a stop, hearing the doctor’s voice their own confusion. She turned as she heard John chuckle.

“Well, come on, then.” He nodded as he quickly hobbled by, his cane clacking on the tiled floor. He took them to another door, which walked them through what Sara supposed was the security office. Only a few people sat in this room. One man was smoking, typing busily on his computer, he didn’t even glance at them as they walked through. At least, he didn’t seem to notice them. When Sara raised her camera, his sharp eyes glared over his glasses at her. Sara swallowed hard and lowered her camera. A second man was playing with a stress toy, his eyes lazily looking over hundreds of lines of code. As they passed by he noisily slurped a soda and slammed the can down on his desk. 

“Please, be careful what you touch in here.” John warned them as they stopped at the lab door. 

Sara was bouncing on her toes, as she passed John she stopped, “May I?” she asked.

“Anything you’d like.” John nodded.

This would be gold. Sara took photos of everything, a pair of scientists looking over a computer, a scientist cataloging little glass tubes filled with strange liquid, one scientist writing on a clipboard. John walked up to this last man, “G’day Henry.” 

The man stopped, barely glancing over his shoulder before he smiled, “Ah, good day, sir.”

“Henry, Henry Wu, our lead geneticist.” John introduced them. Dr. Wu turned around and smiled tensely at their presence. Sara’s Nikon made a noise. New film. She tugged her bag around to her front, digging through the pockets for her next roll of film. She’d have to be more careful with her shots. If the rest of the park was as magnificent as the brachiosaur they saw, she wanted to capture it all.

“It’s turning the eggs.” She heard Dr. Sattler gasp.

And just like that, all thoughts of saving film went out the window as Sara quickly replaced her old film with the new film. She raced down the stairs the doctor’s had gone down. In the center of the small, semi-closed off area of the lab was a raised table with a heat lamp over it. Moss and foliage overflowed from the man-made nest. A claw like machine moved automatically, turning the foot long eggs so they were evenly heated. She took several pictures, each at a different angle, capturing the amazed looks of the doctors as well as the egg-turning machine and the eggs. 

“Ah, perfect timing,” Dr. Wu smiled as he walked over, “I was hoping they’d hatch before I’d have to catch the boat.”

“Henry, Henry, Henry, why didn’t you tell me!” John’s eyes lit up as he dug a pair of disposable gloves out of a box, “I insist on being here,” he slipped them on and squeezed between the doctors, “when they’re born.” Sara stood on the other side of the nest, her camera slowly lowering as she watched an egg twitch and crack in several locations. “Come on,” John urged quietly, “come on, then. Come on little one, push.” The egg finally gave way a little, and a bloody, pale snout poked out, “Come on, then. Come on!” John was tickled pink as he smiled at the egg. Sara snapped out of her daze, snapping a picture of the baby dinosaur poking its nose out its egg and staring at John. “The dinosaurs imprint on the first creature they see. Helps them to trust me,” John explained quietly, “That’s it. Push. Push! Very good.”

“Oh my god, look at it.” Dr. Sattler sounded like she might cry, and Sara didn’t blame her. This was the future of...everything. Science, paleo-research, zoological research, entertainment. Sara let go of the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding as the creature finally let out a little chirp-like cry. Even Gennaro seemed amazed at what he saw before him.

“I’ve been present for the birth of every living creature on this island.” John let out a musical laugh as he helped the baby, slowly helping it peel itself out of the egg.

“Just the lab ones, though.” Sara said under her breath.

“Actually,” Dr. Wu startled Sara as he stepped up beside her, “the dinosaurs can’t breed in the wild. Population control is one of our number one concerns. There is no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park.” He finished proudly, side-eyeing down at her.

“How--uh,” Dr. Malcolm stepped out from the group, “How do you know they can’t breed?” He asked, blinking incredulously. 

“Well because all the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are female.” Dr. Wu smiled tensely at them. When neither of them said anything, and shared a look that said they were on the same confused page, Dr. Wu explained with a slow nod, “We’ve engineered them that way.”

“Blood temperature seems like a high eighties, maybe,” Dr. Grant said.

Dr. Malcolm calmly slipped his hand around Sara’s elbow and pulled her away from the group, making it appear as though they were walking around the nest, “I don’t know your science background, but does that seem--”

“Wrong. Off. Not possible.” Sara finished. She didn’t mind Dr. Malcolm’s closeness now, seeing Dr. Wu circling the nest on the other side, eyeing them like a predator stalking prey, it was nice to have a barrier between her and him, even if that barrier was someone as pig-ish as Dr. Malcolm. Something about Dr. Wu’s tone concerning the dinosaurs reproductive capabilities did not sit well with her. Instinctively, animals had a need to reproduce, what kind of... _chaos_...would erupt from the dinosaurs after a couple of seasons of no reproducing? 

Dr. Malcolm subtly nodded, his tongue in his cheek as he chewed on his words. “It is.” He said quietly. He took a breath and turned back to the group, facing Dr. Wu, “But again, how do you know? What does someone go out into the park and lift up the Dinosaur’s skirts?” Sara cringed at his choice of words, but stood back from the group and Dr. Malcolm as Dr. Wu stiffened and turned to him. 

Dr. Wu crossed his arms, “We control their chromosomes, it’s really not that difficult. Every embryo is inherently female anyways. They just require an extra hormone given at the right stage of development to make them male. We simply deny them that.” 

At this Dr. Sattler perked up. “Deny them that?” She repeated.

“John,” Dr. Malcolm slowly shook his head, leaning back against a desk. Sara recalled John’s warnings about touching things earlier and stepped further out of the semi-enclosed lab. “The kind of control you’re attempting is...it’s not possible, see if there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us is that life will not be contained, life breaks free, it expands into new territories. It crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but uh--there it is.”

“There it is.” John repeated, a tense smile. Sara looked behind him, watching as Dr. Grant picked up the infant dinosaur in his hands and inspected it.

“You’re implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will,” Dr. Wu raised an eyebrow, “breed?”

“No, no,” Dr. Malcolm clarified, “I’m simply saying that; life, uh, finds a way.”

Before either Dr. Wu or John could protest, the baby chirped again. Dr. Grant’s eyes glassed over as he felt the squirming baby in his hands. “What species of dinosaur is this?” he asked quietly, not looking up from the infant.

“It’s a, uh, velociraptor.” Dr. Wu answered.

Dr. Grant finally peeled his eyes away from the baby, “You bred raptors?” he asked. Dr. Wu nodded slowly, unsure of why Dr. Grant was so concerned. 

That was all Dr. Grant wanted to see. John could see there would be no talking Dr. Grant out of seeing anything else and he relented. They followed John out of the lab, down and out the Visitor’s Center, down a dirt path into the woods behind the building. They walked for a while, John explaining that this was actually a perfect time to visit the raptors as they would be otherwise preoccupied and wouldn’t pay their visitors anymind. 

As they broke through the clearing, Sara’s heart stopped at the sight of a gorgeous black cow all tied up in a harness and attached to a crane. “What are they doing?” she blurted out loud without meaning to. They were in front of a large, concrete and steel structure that had a watch tower at one end, and an electric fence around the upper part of the structure. There were stairs that led to a platform that ran the length of the structure.

John watched as the cow was lifted into the air, “Feeding them.” he explained.

”No...” Sara whispered. She ignored John’s talk of lunch as the others walked up to the viewing platform. There was a steel gate criss-crossing over the exposed top of the paddock, and a section opened up just enough for the cow to be lowered inside. The cow’s watery eyes looked at Sara as it slipped below the tree line. The trees shook and then there was a scream. 

“No!” Sara couldn’t bear to watch and she turned around, running back towards the Visitor’s Center. She ran through the trees, the sound of the cow being mutilated and mauled fading behind her. Her tears blurred her vision as she ran, and she was thankful she didn’t trip or drop anything. Once she broke back through the doors to the Visitor’s Center she ran past the confused construction staff. She needed a place to hide, a place to be alone and away from watchful eyes. She found herself back in the theater upstairs. It was dark, and Sara found herself curling up in one of the seats in an upper back corner and sobbing. She was embarrassed and ashamed. It was such a guttural response, she had no excuse for her unprofessional behavior. Then a whole new wave of guilt washed over her and she wanted to throw up. 

The lights crashed on and Sara gasped to control her breathing. The door to the theater opened, and the smoking man from the security office stepped in. He looked around, almost looking over her, but his sharp eyes found her once more. Looking at him with wide, deer-in-the-headlights eyes, Sara started to take a real note of the man. He was tall and lean, with dark skin. He had short black hair and a mustache that reminded her of Walt Disney’s famous mustache (although, perhaps a little fuller than Disney’s). He wore a white and blue-grey striped button up tucked into dark slacks. His steel and black diamond tie was loosened around his neck. He had a lab coat on, with a little red and yellow security tag hanging from the pocket.

“You’re the photographer.” It wasn’t a question. He knew. 

“I shouldn’t be here.” Sara blurted out, angrily wiping her eyes. She couldn’t stop the ashamed blush that spread across her face.

“Well, I don’t think John’ll take kindly to you sneaking around like that.” The man stuck his hands in his lab coat pockets.

“No, I,” Sara’s words got caught in her throat, “I shouldn’t be here at all. The island.” She added, when the man just stared at her. 

He took a deep breath and walked across the theater to her, stopping a few seats away to sit down with a groan. Sara raised her eyebrows at him when he turned to look at her, “Well--?” He motioned, “Go on. Tell me why.” He deadpanned.

Sara felt a little offended at his indifference, and she resolved to keep her story as short as possible. “Hammond originally hired my dad to take pictures for him.” She curled up, “He rejected Hammond’s offer. Not--” she paused, this man didn’t need to know and probably didn’t want to know why her dad rejected John’s offer. “I saw that he had and when Hammond wrote back disappointed I,” she winced, clenching her teeth, “I used my dad’s email to write a glowing review for myself. And recommend Hammond hire me instead.”

“You lied to sneak onto the island?” The man asked slowly. Sara couldn’t tell if he was furious or surprised. 

“I didn’t lie!” Sara objected sharper than she intended to. “I can take pictures, I’m a photographer by my own right! It’s just,” the wind in her sails died a little, “No one knows.”

“No one knows?” He kept the same tone in his voice, still unsure if he should call security to kick her off the island.

“Look.” Sara grew frustrated, the man had seemed so uninterested in her before, and she didn’t exactly want to spill her life’s story to someone she didn’t even know! “My dad’s a director, a producer, a whatever-you-need Mr. Big Shot Hollywood guy! I learned how to hold a camera before I learned how to hold a spoon.” Sara spat out, she stood up, angry tears blurring her eyes. “But everything I shot, every picture I took, every competition I entered, every frame I filled was met with, _“well, when your **dad** was your age”, “well **your father** would have done it **this way** ”, or “why don’t you get **your father to help you”?**_ ” She was hyperventilating at this point. “So, yeah, I lied. A little. I pretended to be my dad to get me this job, but guess what?” She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, her face burning as she did so. “Every reference picture I sent John--I took. Me. On my own. Animals, still life, portraits, urban-scapes. All mine.” She stood defiantly, “I…” She sat back down, taking a few breaths, “I’m sorry.”

The man chewed on his words for a moment before saying, “Well. I came in here originally ‘cause the construction guys said some crazy kid came running in here crying.” Sara turned away ashamed, “Then you started saying some wild ass shit, had half a mind to leave you here and call security.” He pushed himself up to stand in front of her, “But, if what you say is true,” he reached into his pocket, pulling out a cigarette box and shaking one out, “Then I don’t give a damn if you’re in here crying. You deserve to be here.” He offered her one. She shook her head. He put his in his mouth and switched the cigarette box for a lighter. After he lit the cigarette and took a drag, he turned to her, “Maybe go to the women’s room next time.” He advised.

Sara couldn’t help but laugh as she wiped more tears away. “Sorry.” She apologized again, “Thank you.” The man nodded in response. “I’m Sara Webb, by the way.”

“John Arnold,” He said as he walked back towards the theater door, “Friends call me Ray.”

Sara smiled as she followed him out, “Thank you, Ray.” Ray paused for a second, looking back at Sara. She tried to hide her mischievous smirk.

“If my daughter turns out to be half as much as a smart-ass, hard-working, determined, stubborn woman like you. I’ll think I’ve done a good job with her.” Ray said, taking his cigarette out to blow the smoke away. Sara felt honored.

The doors to the Visitor’s Center opened and John Hammond walked in with their rest of their company. “Miss Webb,” John breathed out in relief, “Thank goodness. Ray, thank you.” Ray nodded before strolling back to the security office. “Would you care to join us for lunch, Miss Webb? Are you feeling alright?” He added, realizing with a wince that he probably should have switched his questions.

Sara took a breath and nodded, “Yes. Thank you.” She waited at the top of the stairs as John started climbing up. She avoided eye contact with the group as they climbed. Dr. Sattler whispered to her as she passed by.

“I threw up in my mouth a few times.” She sympathetically smiled at Sara. Sara smiled her thanks and followed the group as they walked past the security office door. “Gennaro had to turn away.” Dr. Sattler whispered as they continued down the hall. 

“Shocker.” Sara whispered back. Dr. Sattler snickered. “Sorry. I must have cut Dr. Grant’s visit with the raptor’s short. He seemed very interested in them.”

“Please,” Dr. Sattler waved it off, “He’ll always have his bones to look at.” She smiled, “Call us Alan and Ellie, though, please.”

A worker opened a door in the atrium that led to another office. Inside was a long, oval table with just enough high-back, leather chairs for everyone. Each place had a large decorative plate, a water glass, and golden cutlery. Several projectors showed pictures of charts, graphs, and artistic renditions of attractions on a slide show. John sat at the head of the table, Ellie and Sara sat to his right, Dr. Malcolm and Gennaro sat to his left and Alan sat at the opposite end of the table.

Gennaro, still with his clipboard in hand, coughed lightly, “Now, Miss Webb,” Sara looked at him in shock. It was the first time he actually addressed her since they met in the airport a few hours ago. “Why don’t you tell me why you--err--had such a strong reaction to the feeding display.” Sara blinked in shock, her eyebrows shooting up into her hair. He seemed to have only been concerned with the doctor’s thoughts and opinions so far, why now did he seem to care? 

_“He obviously wants to put something bad on his little notepad.”_ Sara thought, watching Gennaro’s pen hover over the notepad.

“Donald,” John sounded shocked and offended on her behalf.

“Tasteful.” Dr. Malcolm muttered, raising his water glass to his lips.

Sara bit her tongue and took a calming breath, “I was just shocked, is all.”

“About?” Gennaro asked.

“Probably the gross lack of empathy displayed before her.” Dr. Malcolm said out of the side of his mouth.

“You wouldn’t like it if someone asked you why you turned away.” Ellie leaned back in her chair. Gennaro’s eyes widened ever so slightly, “Not fun when someone points out your behavior, is it?” she asked. Alan tucked his chin into his chest to hide his smirk.

“As I told the others earlier,” John broke the silence, “I believe Alejandro has prepared Chilean Sea Bass for us.” Sara only nodded in response, still put off by Gennaro’s questioning. He seemed to have been just as impressed with the park as the rest of them, so why did he care about the opinions of some photographer? 

“Lunch,” A man Sara presumed to be the chef, stepped in from a swinging door behind John, “is served.” He bowed his head as he turned and walked back to what must have been the kitchen. The man came back out with a dish, which he sat in front of Ellie. Still just as put-off from the bovine burger the raptors had earlier, she just stared at her plate. Sara could hear her swallow hard. 

John must have been uncomfortable with the silence because he motioned to the slideshow of pictures around the room, “None of the attractions are ready to be opened yet, but the park will open with the tour you’re about to go on. And then other rides will come online six or twelve months after that, really spectacular design, spared no expense.”

Every time a serve went back to the kitchen another server came out with a plate of food. Sara stared at her plate. There were five strips of sea bass on her plate, laying in a pool of some tangy yet sweet smelling sauce. There was an enormous pile of...something orange, Sara poked at it with her fork. It was the consistency of a sweet potato, but had been through some machine to make it look like noodles. Arranged around the sweet potato pile were small tomatoes and some green beans.

“And we can charge whatever we want,” Gennaro, not put off in the slightest by the topic change, perked up, “two thousand a day, ten thousand a day, and people will pay it! Then there’s the merchandise and I can--”

“Donald, Donald, my dear boy, this park was not built to cater only for the super rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals.” He looked to everyone else who slowly nodded in agreement. If she hadn’t just bawled her eyes out over a cow being slaughtered, and the poor cow's eyes flashing behind her eyelids every time she blinked, she would have thought the dish looked divine. Even if she had the stomach to eat, she waited until everyone was served before attempting to pick up her cutlery.

“Sure, they will,” Gennaro agreed jokingly, “what we’ll have a--uh--coupon day, or something.” He shrugged, finding himself humorous. John laughed as well.

Dr. Malcolm took another sip from his glass of water, “Gee,” he said clearing his throat, “the lack of humility before nature that’s being displayed here is, uh, staggering.” He admitted.

“Thank you, Dr. Malcolm,” Gennaro said dryly, “but I think things are a little different here then you or I had feared.”

“Yeah, I know,” Dr. Malcolm said, “They’re worse.”

“Wait a minute--now hold on, we haven’t even,” Gennaro motioned to the door they’d come in through, “the rest of the park.”

“Donald, Donald,” John raised a hand to stop Gennaro, “let him speak, no, I want to hear every opinion.”

“Don’t you see,” Dr. Malcolm took a breath, as if relieved he could speak his mind, “John, inherent in what you’re doing? Genetic power is the most awesome force on the planet, and yet you’ve wielded it like some kid who has found his dad’s gun.”

“Now, I hardly think that’s appropriate--” Dr. Malcolm cut Gennaro off with an icy stare, then leaned forward, resting one arm on the table to physically cut Gennaro out of his conversation with John.

“I’ll tell you the problem with the scientific power you guys are using here.” Dr. Malcolm shouted over Gennaro’s protest. “It didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You--you read what others had done and you--” Dr. Malcolm motioned with his hands while he spoke, “you took the next step! You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of genesis to accomplish something as fast as you could, and the next thing you knew you had. And you patented it, you packaged it, you slapped it on a plastic lunch box,” John started to shake his head in disagreement here, but Dr. Malcolm continued and he slammed his fist on the table, knocking cutlery and ceramics together, “and now you’re selling it! You want to sell it!”

“I don’t think you’re giving us our due credit.” John said calmly, “Our scientists have done things which nobody’s ever done before.”

Dr. Malcolm winced, “Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Sara blinked in surprise at his statement. Profound, and deep, yet thrown out from off the top of his head in a fit of astonished rage.

“Condors.” John came back at him, “Condors are on the verge of extinction,” Dr. Malcolm shook his head, but John wagged his finger at him, “If I were to--no--if I were to build a flock of Condors on this island. You wouldn’t have anything to say.”

“John, this isn’t about the endangerment of a species from the building of a dam. Dinosaurs had their chance and mother nature selected them for extinction.” Dr. Malcolm argued. 

Sara rolled her neck in an attempt to release the tension building up. Every time she thought Dr. Malcolm did something right, he had to go and say or do something stupid. Mother nature had nothing to do with a meteor.

“I just don’t understand this luddite attitude especially from a scientist. I mean,” John motioned to the room, “How can we stand, in the light of discovery, and not act?”

“What’s so great about discovery?” Dr. Malcolm asked, sitting back, “It’s a violent, penetrating act that scars everything it touches. What you call discovery,” he smirked at John, “I call the rape of the natural world.”

Sara picked at her green beans, nibbling on the end of one as everyone silently turned to their meals. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the sound of cutlery clinking against the ceramic plates. With everyone eating now, Sara regained a bit of her appetite, and she tried some of the sea bass. It practically melted in her mouth. 

Next to her, however, Ellie fidgeted restlessly and she put her cutlery down after finishing only a quarter of her plate, “Well the real question is: how can you know anything about an extinct ecosystem? And therefore how can you assume to control it? You have plants in this building that are poisonous--you chose them because they look good--but these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they’re in and they will defend themselves violently if necessary.”

John sighed, realizing he wouldn’t be having the peaceful lunch he’d been hoping for, “Dr. Grant,” he motioned to the man at the other end of the table who had been silent so far, “If there’s one person here who could appreciate what I’m trying to do.”

Dr. Grant dabbed at his mouth with his napkin before setting down his cutlery and leaning back on his table, “Look, the world’s just changed so radically and we’re just trying to catch up. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but, dinosaurs and man; two species separated by sixty-five million years of evolution have just suddenly been thrown back into the mix together...how could we possibly have the slightest idea of what to expect?” he asked them.

John didn’t answer, instead he shook his head, “I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it!” he exclaimed, “you’re meant to come down here and defend me against these characters and the only one I’ve got on my side is the blood sucking lawyer!”

Sara held back a snort as Gennaro looked on in shock. “Thank you.” He sarcastically muttered under his breath. The chef from earlier, Alejandro, Sara supposed, came back in and whispered something to John. Whatever was said put the twinkle back in John’s eyes as he smiled and stood up.

“Well, they’re here.”


	4. The Tour Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tour begins with two no shows and some backlash.

“You lot are going to have a spot of company, out in the park,” John explained as they walked down the Visitor’s Center stairs, “spend a little time with our target audience.” 

Just then, the door flew open, and two blurs of color came running in shouting, “Grandpa!” Sara’s eyes widened as the blurrs became tangible shapes, and those shapes were in the form of kids! Two kids to be exact. A young boy and his older sister. 

“Kids!” John held his arms open. The two kids rammed full force into John, knocking him back.

The boy looked to be around nine or ten years old, with messy, golden brown hair, and a light dusting of freckles across his nose. He wore a thin denim button up over a multi-colored striped shirt, shorts, socks pulled way up, and sneakers.

The girl, probably twelve or thirteen, had long blonde hair, twisted in a braid, and pulled through the hole in the back of her blue baseball cap. She wore a multi-colored tank top, rolled up jeans, and sneakers.

Sara couldn’t help but think of the cow, lowered to slaughter, as the kids told their grandfather about their helicopter ride over. She shivered involuntarily.

“You’re probably too young, but what do you think of kids?” Ellie asked her as they walked outside.

“I,” Sara hesitated, “haven’t been around many.” She admitted. She was only eighteen, she’d only had two boyfriends, and both barely lasted a month since one was more interested in what her dad had to offer him in terms of connections, and the other was more into her mom. “What about you?” She asked, realizing as a blush spread over her cheeks that most conversations required two-way communication.

Ellie glanced at Alan, who had been keeping his distance from the group since the kids came running in, “I think kids are a wonderful way to share your love and knowledge of the world.” Sara blinked in shock, she hadn’t expected such an answer. As they walked out of the Visitor’s Center they found two green, yellow, and red jeeps waiting for them.

“There are no drivers?” Gennaro asked, hesitating on the steps.

“No, no, no, no.” John shook his head as his granddaughter flew out from under his arm to climb into the first jeep, “no drivers. They’re electric, they run on this track here in the middle. Totally non-pollutant, top of the line. Spared no expense.” 

Sara pulled out her camera and walked around the group to stand beside the open door, “Hi,” she shyly caught the attention of the girl. She turned and looked at Sara with deer in the headlight eyes, “I’m Sara.” She smiled at the girl.

“Oh, I’m Lex,” She introduced herself, “that’s my little brother, Timmy.” She pointed at her brother who was following Alan around, talking about something. 

“Nice to meet you,” Sara swallowed her awkwardness, “your grandfather hired me to take pictures this weekend, and I was wondering if you were okay with me taking pictures of you in the jeep?”

If there was one thing she had learned from her parents; always ask someone under the age of eighteen for consent. Even if the guardian had already given consent, it was better to ask the kids so the kids knew the photographer would stop if they wanted and so the kids were aware of the photographer's presence. Lex just stared at her, chewing on her lip. Thankfully, John came over to save the day.

“Lex, darling, are you alright?” John asked with a smile. When Lex nodded, he clapped a hand on Sara’s shoulder, “Miss Webb will be taking pictures of you and Tim in the park this weekend. Your pictures will be displayed for the world to see when the park opens.” Lex thought for a moment more before nodding and shrugging.

“Okay.” And she went back to interacting with the large, built-in computer on the jeep. “So who are these people anyways?” Lex asked when John stepped away. 

“Oh, those guys?” She asked, nodding to the doctors who still had not entered either jeep. Lex nodded. “Well, the two gentlemen and the lady are all scientists.” She pointed to the respective person as she introduced them, “Dr. Malcolm is a mathematician. Dr. Grant is a paleontologist. And Dr. Sattler is,” Sara hesitated. She wasn’t sure what Ellie was exactly. “Ya know,” she laughed, “I’m not sure what Dr. Sattler studies, come here—.” To her surprise, Lex immediately jumped out of the jeep and walked over to the doctors with her. Alan was walking circles around the jeeps, trying to keep his interactions with Tim at a minimum. Ellie was laughing quietly behind her hand when Sara walked over with Lex.

“Lex, this is Dr. Sattler and Dr. Malcolm,” Sara introduced them, “Doctor’s, this is Lex.” Keeping her camera down so as not to startle Lex, she snapped a candid photo of Ellie shaking hands with Lex. She ran the risk of the picture being out of focus or out of frame, but it felt worth it.

“Nice to meet you, Lex.” Ellie smiled. 

“You know, I don’t know if John ever told me what exactly you study.” Sara embarrassingly admitted.

“Oh, sorry,” Ellie beamed, “I’m a paleobotanist.” She explained to Sara and Lex, “Simply put, I study ancient plant life—“ Alan and Tim circled around, getting into and then out the other side of the jeep they were all standing around.

“What’s with him?” Lex asked curiously. 

“Dr. Grant’s not exactly...kid friendly.” Ellie admitted with a sigh as she opened the passenger door to the second jeep and slid in. “He gets anxious and awkward around kids.” She explained when she noticed no one has responded to her comment. “Hey,” she exclaimed, gently grabbing Lex’s arm, “I think you and Tim should ride with him.”

“Why?” Lex asked defensively. Alan was staring at Tim as he chattered away and talked on as he climbed into the first jeep.

“It’ll be good for him.” Ellie explained with a growing mischievous smirk, “he’ll eventually open up and maybe even answer some questions your brother has.” Ellie nodded to Alan who closed the door on Tim. Sara winced, but Lex skipped over before Alan could even turn around. Sara had to hide her snort as Alan turned to them with hardened eyes.

“Think he noticed?” Ellie asked, lightly biting her finger to keep from smiling.

“Just a little.” Sara laughed. She turned and figured she’d save Alan from any more awkwardness, “Dr. Grant? Mind coming over for a picture?” She situated the doctors all in shot, Alan and Ellie in the front seats, with Dr. Malcolm in the back seat. She snapped a few pictures before Gennaro loudly cleared his throat.

“We’re ready to start the tour.” He said loudly. Sara rolled her eyes and shook her head as she walked around to sit in the same jeep as the kids. 

One, John wanted pictures of the kids in the park. 

Two, the kids' jeep was in the front, so she’d get good shots of the trail as well as the doctors in their own jeep. 

And three, there was no way she was leaving the kids with the blood-sucking lawyer.

Just as she settled into her seat, the jeep lurched forward in a crawl. “Hey, lookit! A ghost! A ghost!” Tim exclaimed.

“Oh no! Who’s driving?!” Lex played along with him. Sara smiled as they coasted along a path she hadn’t seen on their drive in.

The inside of the jeep was clean, with leather seats, a working AC system, and the interactive CD-ROM Lex was toying with. “Lex is a computer nerd,” Tim said, noticing that Sara was watching as Lex fiddled with the controls on the screen, she had climbed up to the front seat to reach it easier. “What’s your favorite dinosaur?” He quickly hopped onto a subject Sara could tell he was way more into.

“Uh,” Sara thought to her childhood, of the little yellow and green plastic dinosaur that she used to cling to in bed despite it being a hard plastic toy and not a soft stuffed animal. “Parasaurolophus.” She answered, remembering all her mother's attempts to throw the toy away.

“I like T-Rex’s, but Parasaurolophus are cool too, I guess.” Tim sat back in his seat, nudging the back of Lex’s seat with his knees as he bunched down on the seat. “Did you know that the Parasaurolophus could walk on two or four legs?” Tim asked.

Sara did know, but she also knew kids needed to feel smart, so she acted surprised, “what? No way!” 

Tim nodded, feeding off her encouragement, “yeah, and, hey, did you know they could be as long as a bus!” Sara tried to remember how big they had looked by the waterside, but before she could answer, Tim was off again. “Lots of people have guessed what their horn did, some say it was to make noise, but I don’t think so. Because wouldn’t it make noise better in front of the head instead of behind? Did you know the T-Rex and Parasaurolophus didn’t live at the same time?” Sara nodded and acted shocked appropriately as Tim went on, “Dr. Grant wrote a book about all the dinosaurs, but it’s not this book,” he showed Sara the book he was reading by Jack Horner, “his book is really small, but my teacher gave me a book by this guy named Bakker, and it’s really big,” Tim held up his Horner book and then spread his fingers to show how much bigger Bakker’s book was. Something caught his eye out the windshield and he sat forward, pointing his finger out over Lex’s shoulder. “Hey, lookit!”

_“During most of your tour, the appropriate information will be automatically selected and displayed for you,”_ a voice came over the speakers in the jeep, _“simply touch the area of the screen displaying the appropriate icon.”_

“Are we gonna hit that?” Lex asked quietly. Sara followed Tim’s finger and found a tall wooden and metal gate in the distance. Sara took a few pictures of it as they drew closer. 

The voice spoke over the speakers again, _“Welcome to Jurassic Park.”_ The gates opened in time for the jeeps to slip through, and with loud, heavy, mechanical clunks the gate closed behind them as the second jeep slipped through.

They continued on their track through the trees, Tim talked more about his books until Gennaro gave a heavy sigh and he grew quiet. Sara guessed by the glare Lex gave Gennaro that Tim probably spent a lot of time being shushed at home.

His spirit couldn’t be broken however, as John’s voice came over the speaker in the jeep. _“The voice you’re now hearing is Richard Kiley.”_ Sara wondered who the hell that was when John added with a chuckle, _“We spared no expense.”_

_“Someone expensive.”_ Sara figured to herself.

Just then, Richard Kiley’s voice came on the speakers again, _“if you look to your right you will see a herd of the first dinosaurs on our tour called: Dilophosaurus.”_ Tim excitedly climbed over Sara’s lap, she tried not to audibly wince as his boney knees dug into her thighs, or when his fresh new sneaker treads tore into her skin. _“One of the earliest carnivores, we now know Dilophosaurus is actually poisonous. Spitting its venom at its prey causing blindness and eventually paralysis, allowing the carnivore to eat at its leisure.”_ Sara awkwardly shimmed her way to standing in the backseat in order to climb into the trunk area where she kicked a large box to the other side. She got a shot of Lex, Tim, and Gennaro all staring wide eyed in wonder at the enclosure as they passed. _“This makes Dilophosaurus a beautiful but deadly addition to Jurassic Park.”_ Sara turned her camera to the tall electrified fence they were passing by, but was saddened to see nothing but trees. Not a rustle, not even a blur. Nothing. She glanced at Tim and Lex who looked equally disappointed. Gennaro didn’t seem too surprised, but he also let out a sad sigh. Lex, noticing Sara had moved to the trunk, climbed into the back seat to sit with Tim. They leaned on each other, Lex whispering something reassuring to Tim that made him sit up a little straighter. They kept moving forward and Sara actually found herself enjoying the ride in the trunk. It wasn’t smooth by any means, but she could curl up in any weird position she pleased and only had the box to fight against instead of a person. 

Sara felt bad for the kids, who were now sitting quietly and dejectedly in the back seat and she rested her arms on the back of the backseat, rested her chin on her arms and turned to them, “So, did you guys have any idea your grandpa was making all this?” She asked. 

they both shook their heads.

”Lex, what’s your favorite dinosaur?” Sara asked. 

Tim spoke up, “Lex doesn’t have a favorite dinosaur. She thinks they’re all scary.” He teased her in the way little brothers do, poking fun at his sibling and snickering at her embarrassment. 

”I do not!” Lex elbowed him. “I just never got into them like you with your brontosaur, ankle-saur, junk.” 

”Ankylosaur,” Tim corrected her with a condescending eye roll. 

The two opened up a little more. Tim now talking about the doctor’s in the other jeep and Lex occasionally interrupting to ask Sara questions about anything that came to mind. 

“Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler don’t work for a university like some paleontologist, they work for a museum—“ 

“How long have you been taking pictures?”

“I’ve never heard of Dr. Malcolm, I wonder what he does—?”

”Why _is_ Dr. Malcolm wearing all black? Doesn’t he know black absorbs more heat?”

They went through a tunnel as Richard Kiley spoke up again, _“On our right you will come face to face with the most vicious predator to ever walk the earth. Known as the Tyrant Lizard, this North American carnivore can eat up to five hundred pounds of meat in a single bite.”_ They came out of a tunnel and onto a curved part of the road. _“This dinosaur has terrified and captivated audiences everywhere with just its bones. But for you, today, you will come face to face with the Tyrannosaurus Rex.”_

The jeeps slowed down to a halt, and once again, despite all the build up, they were met with nothing. Sara strained her eyes trying to look through the tree line for any sign of organic movement. After a few moments where absolutely nothing happened, Ray’s voice came over the speaker in the jeep.

_“We’ll try to attract the Rex now. Keep watching the fence.”_

Sara turned and was horrified to see a goat chained to a pole rise up out of a hole in the ground. She knew she should watch to get a picture of the T-Rex incase she showed up, but she was still queasy from the cow at the raptor pen earlier. She curled up in the trunk of the jeep, her back to the window facing the T-Rex paddock. 

“What’s gonna happen to the goat?” Lex asked, Sara looked at her, and Lex’s own horrified face mimicked Sara’s, “it’s gonna eat the goat?!” She nearly shrieked. 

Sara winced as Tim turned to her with a wicked smirk, “excellent.” 

Gennaro’s eyes hadn’t left the goat, “what’s the matter kid? Ya never had lamb chops?”

“Oh leave it alone, will ya?” Sara snapped at him, fed up with his sour puss attitude about everyone and everything. “Some people aren’t comfortable watching animals tear their prey apart. Didn’t YOUR mom ever teach you not to play with your food?” Sara’s face burned brightly as Gennaro’s wide eyes turned to look at her, as if he’d almost forgotten she was there. Her insides shook, waiting for him to snap back at her or shout, but instead Gennaro hunkered down in his seat as the jeeps started moving once more.


	5. Hurricane Clarissa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group stop to meet a new friend and the storm approaches

As the jeeps continued on their way, Sara couldn’t help but wonder if they truly were the first people to have taken the tour. In her mind, someone should have been studying the dinosaurs to see their movement patterns and to track when the best time was for people to see the most dinosaurs on their tours. She couldn’t imagine parents being happy their savings were spent so their kids could look at some enclosed trees and tied up goats. She looked behind her, noticing the doctors all conversing in their jeep. Alan, however, was looking out into the field they were passing by. 

Before Sara could comprehend what was happening, Alan was jumping out of the jeep. “Oh my God!” She blurted out without meaning to. In the reflection of the rear window she could see everyone crane their necks around to see Ellie follow Alan out of the vehicle and then Dr. Malcolm shortly after.

“What the he—ck!” Gennaro muttered as the jeeps came to an abrupt halt. He pushed the door open and ran out after the doctors. Sara climbed into the backseat as Lex and Tim excitedly followed.

“Uh—!!” She could hear Gennaro call as she ran to catch up with everyone, “Is there anyone else who thinks we shouldn’t be here?!” He called.

Tim and Lex both came up on either side of Alan, Tim telling him the same things he had already told her about the different dinosaur books he had. Lex stumbled and fell into the dirt pretty hard. Sara started to reach for her when Ellie stopped her.

Alan offered Lex a hand up, “you okay?” He asked as he pulled her to her feet. Lex didn’t let go of Alan’s hand, despite his twisting to get it back. Ellie gave Sara a mischievous smirk, and Sara sneakily raised her camera to snap a picture of the famous Dr. Alan Grant walking with the kids.

The ground rumbled as they traveled further into the long grass, and Alan quieted everyone, “Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa—!...everybody just...just stay here.” Lex finally let go of his hand as he stepped through the thick brush. 

Unfortunately, Tim didn’t like being left behind so he stepped away from the group.

“Tim, no!” Sara tried to reach for him.

“Hey, Timmy!” Lex ran after him.

Sara followed and she could hear the others follow behind her. Tim, Lex, and Sara all parted the grass at their level and stood stiff as statues.

Just like with the brachiosaur it felt impossible.

Sara’s heart raced so quickly she felt like she might faint.

Laying on the ground, pathetically groaning and lolling its head around was the most beautiful triceratops she had ever seen. It was the color of clay, with pale horns that were cracked at the tip showing a powerful history, its fat tongue rolled around its beak-like mouth as its dark eyes seemed to gloss over the newcomers.

Alan was keeping a distance but he looked like he wanted so very desperately to touch it. He was patting his palms on his khakis, and shifting eagerly from foot to foot.

“You can get close, it’s alright,” a man spoke up, “Muldoon tranquilized her for me. She’s sick.” Sara immediately pulled up her camera as the others circled the poor triceratops. Ellie dropped to her knees, petting the dinosaur’s face and jaw like one might do to a particularly flabby-faced dog. She snapped pictures of Tim stroking the crest and horns, of Ellie tearing up as she continued talking gently to the dinosaur, of Dr. Malcolm and Gennaro observing from a distance, or Lex smiling with awe at the creature, and of Alan who had a few tears running down his face. Sara finally lowered her camera and approached the dinosaur, joining Ellie on the ground to touch the triceratops face. It was scaly, and bumpy, but surprisingly warm, and almost soft. 

“She was one of my favorites when I was a kid,” Alan sighed, “and now I look at her, and she’s the most beautiful thing I ever saw.” The three of them let out breathless laughs as Alan stood up and walked to the creature's belly. Sara raised her camera one final time to snap a picture of him resting on the triceratops belly. His face broke out in childish glee as she took a deep breath, pushing him back up to almost standing height before exhaling and lowering him back down. 

Ellie made a sound of disgust which caught Sara’s attention. She turned back and saw Ellie wiping thick pus off her fingers. “What was that?” She asked, scrunching her own nose up in disgust.

“It’s microvesicles, that’s interesting.” Ellie gagged once more and pointed out the popped lump on the triceratops’s tongue. Sara turned and discreetly waved the man who spoke earlier over to them. He came over and kneeled beside Sara.

“Yeah?”

“Hi, Mr.—“ Sara paused.

“Harding. Doctor Gerry Harding.” He introduced himself. He had a dark, thick, bushy mustache, and equally dark hair under a Jurassic Park cap. Sara couldn’t see his eyes behind his aviator shades—which Sara didn’t get why he needed both a ball cap and shades, but she wasn’t in any place to judge ones fashion sense.

“Do you have a flashlight, perchance?” Ellie asked. Dr. Harding patted his utility belt and pulled out a small flashlight. “Thanks.” She leaned over to the side of the triceratops’s face that was closer to the ground.

“What are her symptoms?” Sara asked curiously, still petting the trike’s front horn as soothingly as she could.

“Oh,” Dr. Harding thought, “imbalance, disorientation, labored breathing,” he rattled off. “Seems to happen about every six weeks or so.”

“Six weeks?” Ellie asked, perking back up, excusing herself, and leaning in front of Sara to shine the flashlight in the trike’s eye. “Did you know these are dilated?” She asked.

“They are?” Dr. Harding asked.

“Take a look.” Ellie motioned for him to look closer.

“I’ll be damned.” Dr. Harding exclaimed as the trike seemingly winced and flinched away from the light Ellie was shining in her eyes. 

_“Some paleo-vet you are.”_ Sara wanted to say. Instead, she turned to Ellie, “well, what could cause all these symptoms?” She asked.

“It’s pharmacological.” Ellie turned from the triceratops.

“What’s that?” Sara asked.

“It’s from local plant life.” Ellie explained. She stood up and walked around the circle of flattened grass around them. 

Sara followed her, “what you mean like, something it ate made it sick?”

“We keep them on a well supervised diet, and we have gardeners in the park to get rid of any plants we deem—“ Dr. Harding was cut off as Ellie kneeled in the dirt.

“Is this West Indian Lilac?” She asked.

“Yes.” Dr. Harding embarrassingly admitted, “we know they’re toxic, but the animals don’t eat them.” He explained when Sara gave him a wide eyed stare of disbelief. 

“Are you sure?” Sara asked as Ellie walked back over with a few of the apparently toxic berries in her hand. Dr. Malcolm and Tim had joined them, watching as the paleobotanist and the photographer ganged up on the paleo-vet.

“We’re pretty sure.” Dr. Harding admitted.

“There’s only one way to be positive. I’d have to take a look at the dinosaurs droppings.” Ellie sighed.

“Dino...dropping—droppings?” Dr. Malcolm repeated in disbelief. Ellie nodded at him.

Dr. Harding walked over to his jeep and pulled out several long plastic gloves. Ellie immediately pushed her short sleeves up as far as they would go and slipped the long gloves on up to her biceps. “anyone else?” He asked, holding out the gloves. Sara shook her head, one pair of eyes and hands digging through shit was enough. Not to mention her still queasy stomach. If she couldn’t clean up her dad’s elderly dog’s shits at home what hope did she have to dig through dinosaur shit.

 _“Although, there was that one time in second grade the paleontologist brought fossilized triceratops poop to class.”_ Sara remembered fondly, recalling how most of her classmates guessed it was some kind of gem or jewel. But as soon as Sara had seen the red streaks and the layers inside she had guessed what it was. Then she shuddered. She had handled fossilized poop from a trike, she really didn’t care to dig around fresh triceratops poop. Still, she followed Ellie and Dr. Harding down a path only Dr. Harding seemed to know. The smell hit her before she saw it.

Several large piles of poop, some nearly as tall as she was. All steaming and fresh. She stayed as far away as she could while keeping Ellie and Dr. Harding in her sights. She gagged as Dr. Malcolm stood beside her.

“That is one big pile of shit.” He commented.

Ellie did not hesitate as she dug herself elbow deep in the biggest pile of shit in the clearing. Sara nearly gagged again as a new smell wafted their way on the wind. Alan joined them, but immediately backed up, waving his hand in front of his nose. Ellie and Dr. Harding dug around in the piles for a little while longer, talking to each other about their findings.

“The kids back with the lawyer?” She asked the doctors.

“Yeah.” Alan nodded.

“Okay. I’ve seen enough.” She turned and walked back the way they had came. _“I am never getting that smell out of my head.”_ She said to herself. She shivered as a cold breeze whipped by, and was thankful she was now far enough away from the shit to smell it. _“Those clouds don’t look too friendly, though.”_ She thought, turning around to walk backwards and stare at the dark clouds rolling closer.

“Hey, where did everyone go?” Lex asked when Sara made it back to the triceratops.

“To look at dinosaur poop.” Sara answered honestly. Lex made a face of disgust making Sara and Tim laugh. Ellie was the first one back, and she looked deep in thought as she neared them. “Anything?” She asked.

Ellie frowned and shook her head, “nada. No sign of berries.” Alan, Dr. Malcolm, and Dr. Harding were close behind her, following silently. No one made a move to go back to the jeeps, but no one seemed particularly interested in being there. The magic of the triceratops had mostly rubbed off and now they were all just standing around and staring at a sick animal. 

Thankfully, mother nature gave them an idea of what they should do when the sky was ripped apart by thunder. Sara nearly jumped out of her skin, and she saw Gennaro and Lex flinch as well.

“Doctors if you please, I have to insist that we get moving.” Gennaro tried to level his shaking voice.

“You know, if it’s okay, I’d actually like to stay with Dr. Harding and finish up with the trike,” Ellie spoke up, then sheepishly nodded to Dr. Harding, “if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” He turned to them, “I’ve got a gas powered jeep. I can drop her off at the Visitor’s Center before I have to make a run for the boat.”

“Are you sure, Ellie?” Sara asked, “it looks like it wants to storm?” The wind was now strong enough to blow the long grass down and Sara could see the tour jeeps in the distance.

“Yeah, I just really want to stay with her.” Ellie insisted.

Alan must’ve also been concerned, but Ellie reassured him gently. He sigh and nodded in modest defeat, “okay.” He agreed to her wish to stay. 

“Now!” Gennaro shouted at them. One by one they turned. Sara debated on staying with Ellie, she might get pictures of other dinosaurs if she stayed with her and Dr. Harding, but before she could decide Lex and Tim both grabbed onto her and started walking back towards the jeep. Unable to tell them ‘no’ she allowed herself to be dragged back to the jeep and sat between them in the backseat. 

Just as the doors shut, Ray’s voice came over the speakers. _“There’s a storm coming, we’re going to turn you around at the next service road. We’ll pick up the tour tomorrow.”_

Sara allowed herself to relax, laying her camera on her lap and putting her arms around Lex and Tim. Both kids leaned on her, breathing heavily as though exhausted from the exhilaration of seeing a living dinosaur. It didn’t help that the rain that followed as soon as they turned around was rhythmically beating on the plexiglass roof of the jeep, and the fact that the sky turned so dark it looked less like the afternoon and more like midnight. The only thing that kept Sara from nodding off was the fact that the road was so bumpy. They bounced through what sounded like deep puddles of mud. Wet foliage slapped at their vehicle, but they kept chugging along.

“What are you gonna eat first when we get back?” Tim asked Lex.

“Probably a big plate of veggies.” Lex sighed contentedly. “Nice and warm.” She mumbled against Sara’s shoulder.

“I’m having a big bowl of ice cream.” Tim bragged. Sara could hear the barely audible snores of Gennaro in the front seat and found that to be the most endearing sound to escape his body thus far. 

“No you’re not.” Lex argued tiredly.

“Yes I am.” Tim argued back.

“Tim,” Sara squeezed him, a mock-warning tone drawing out his name. “I’m sure your Grandpa will want you to eat real food first.”

Tim hummed in defeat, “then chicken! A whole chicken! Like the ones mom and dad used to buy already cooked at the store.”

Sara was glad the two kept talking as that meant they couldn’t hear her stomach grumble the more they talked about food. She hadn’t eaten much of her sea bass, and the queasy feeling in her stomach was no longer about the goat or the cow, but about how she was running on empty. 

As they approached the T-Rex paddock the jeeps let out low screeches as they came to a slow stop.


	6. The Rex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fences are down

“What’s going on?” Gennaro woke from his sleepy stupor as soon as the gentle rocking of the jeep stopped. 

“The jeep stopped.” Sara sat forward, reached through the gap between the front seats, and tapped the dark monitor screen a few times. It didn’t respond. Without the AC running, and four bodies in the small space, it quickly grew warm. Sara peered around the darkness outside. The goat was still tethered to its pole, and Sara wanted to climb out and bring it to the jeep so it wouldn’t be rained on. The twenty-four foot electrified fence was the only thing stopping her.

 _“If the rain lightens up, maybe we should walk back.”_ She thought to herself. _“We could follow the track back to the Visitor’s Center.”_ However a gust of wind shook the jeep and the rain only grew harder and louder.

“Hey, lookit!” Tim had turned around to face the jeep Alan and Dr. Malcolm were in, and Sara turned in time to see a blur run by and yank open the driver’s side door, startling Gennaro.

It was Alan, absolutely drenched, “you don’t have power either?” He asked.

“No,” Gennaro shook his head.

“What about your radio?” Alan asked.

“Radio?” Gennaro replied.

“Here,” Lex pushed her way to leaning over the center console, she fiddled with their built in radio for a moment, but no sound—not even static—came through. “Nothing.” She answered Alan disappointedly. “Sorry.”

“What should we do?” Alan asked Gennaro. “Make a break, walk to the Visitor’s Center?” Sara perked up. 

“No. No,” Gennaro shook his head, “we should wait. This is just a blip in the power from the storm. John’ll send out a gas-powered jeep soon.” 

“Alright.” Alan nodded, blinking the rain out of his face, he closed the door and Sara watched him as he ran back to his jeep.

Sara sat back in her seat, and decided now was a good time to put her camera back in its bag. She highly doubted she’d get any pictures in the middle of a downpour. She’d just wait ‘til they got back to the Visitor’s Center. Maybe a shot of everyone enjoying their supper would be a nice way to end the day. At this point, she’d be too tired to take pictures of the rooms at the resort they’d be staying at. Sara frowned, they hadn’t even seen the resort yet, she just assumed her weekend backpack was taken there since she hadn’t seen it since earlier that afternoon. Tim crawled into the front seat, exploring the nooks and crannies of the jeep. 

_“Probably looking for anything to occupy his time while we wait.”_ Sara thought as Lex took off her baseball cap and started fanning herself. Part of Sara wanted to tell her that if they sat on opposite ends of the backseat they would probably be a little cooler, but Lex seemed so relaxed against her, she didn’t want to upset the younger girl. Sara remembered wishing she had siblings when she was younger. An older sibling or a younger sibling, she wasn’t picky, but she was her parents only child, so she accepted her lot in life. 

“Boo!” All of a sudden Tim popped up from the front seat, wearing a large helmet with the same paint job as their jeeps and had attached goggles that were glowing green. Lex jumped upright and Sara jumped holding a hand to her chest.

“Where did you find those?” Gennaro asked accusingly, turning to look at him.

“In the box under my seat.” Tim explained, sliding the helmet off his head. He had a large grin on his face from successfully scaring them.

“Are they heavy?” Gennaro eyed the helmet.

“Yeah.” Tim nodded.

“Then they’re expensive, put them back.” Gennaro was quick to snap at him.

Tim frowned and looked at the helmet, then he rolled his eyes at Gennaro and climbed back into the backseat and straight to the trunk of the jeep.

“Don’t scare me,” Lex swatted Tim’s arm with her cap as he climbed by them.

“Please be careful, Tim.” Sara warned him. She then leaned forward and tapped Gennaro’s shoulder. He stared at her in shock in the rearview mirror. “By the way,” she was done with how he was treating everyone, and since he hadn’t said anything at her earlier comment she felt emboldened, “that’s not how you talk to a child. You should know better.” She recalled Dr. Malcolm telling her earlier about him missing his daughter’s birthday. The man had no excuse for being so nasty to the kids. Especially not the kids of the man who hired him.

Gennaro swallowed hard as he tucked two fingers into his collar to slightly loosen his tie. “Fine.” He huffed in annoyance and turned his body away from the rest of them. He turned his neck to rest his head on his own shoulder and closed his eyes, shutting them out.

 _“Good, just go to sleep and leave these kids alone.”_ Sara thought bitterly, narrowing her eyes at the back of his head, hoping the shame and embarrassment at being called out by an eighteen year old was enough to keep him quiet and off the kids asses the rest of the weekend.

“Whoa, cool, night vision!” Tim exclaimed after he slipped the helmet back on.

More time passed in relative silence. The rain was a constant noise, slowly turning to a comforting white noise, and Sara eventually found herself leaning against the door and dozing off. _“John will send a jeep soon.”_ She thought as she relaxed more and more. She didn’t even notice she had dozed off until a strange…

Rhythmic

Tremor

Vibrated

The

Jeeps

Frame...

Sara slowly opened her eyes. The power still hadn’t come back on and no one had come for them. The rain and wind were still blowing, Gennaro was still asleep, Lex was fanning herself, and Tim was still in the trunk. Sara blinked away her sleepiness and confusion, unsure if she’d truly felt the vibrations that had woken her up. 

_“Maybe the vibrations were the power trying to turn back on? Maybe some trees fell?”_ She thought to herself. _“Maybe it’s an earthquake?”_ She tried to reassure herself.

Then, Tim reached forward from the trunk and stopped Lex from fanning herself. “Do you feel that?” Tim asked quietly, the night vision goggles in his hands. Sara’s heart pounded in her chest as she swallowed hard. Tim climbed up to kneel on the floor in the backseat and stared hard at the two glasses of water provided to them on the dashboard. 

_“Tim felt it too.”_ Her mind screamed at her to run, but she stayed rooted to her seat. She had been sweating and was now freezing cold meaning she was stuck to her seat regardless of how powerful the instinct to run was.

Now that everyone was painfully silent, she could hear it. She could feel it. She could see it. 

Something was making the ground shake so hard that concentric circles vibrated in the two little glasses of water on the dashboard that Tim was staring hard at.

“Maybe it’s the power trying to come back on.” Gennaro whispered. Sara’s skin felt tight as he spoke. She hadn’t even realized he was awake. He stared at Sara in the rearview mirror and she could see he was just as unsure and terrified as she was. But neither could say it. Not in front of the kids.

“What is that?” Lex asked, her hand clutching at the hem of Sara’s shirt. Tim crawled back into the trunk, laying on the box as he slipped the night vision goggles back on his head. Sara thought he was going to zoom in on the men in the other jeep, but Tim turned to the T-Rex paddock instead. Sara turned as well, she squinted through the rain, and the queasy feeling returned to her stomach. 

The goat was gone.

Lex had apparently noticed it as well as she backed away from Sara and began to hyperventilate. “No, no, no,” Sara turned to Lex, blocking her view of the paddock as best as she could. She glanced at Gennaro, hoping for some assistance, but his eyes were glued to the bent pole and swinging chain where the goat had once been. “It’s okay.” She said after swallowing hard. “It’s okay, Lex,” the young girl looked at her with wide eyes, “the goat probably got scared by the storm and broke off the chain.” She reassured her.

“Probably?!” Lex repeated. Sara’s heart was beating as fast as Lex was taking breaths. “What happened to the goat?” She turned to ask Tim, and Sara hoped Tim would say he saw the goat further in the trees with his night vision goggles. However, Tim didn’t get a chance to respond—

Something slick slapped against their plexiglass roof and Sara screamed for a moment (only for a moment) when it registered that the thing on their roof was the bloodied, torn off leg of the goat. Lex and Gennaro both gasped in horror and backed away to the other side of the jeep. Sara turned back to the paddock, thunder dramatically rumbling overhead. As she squinted into the darkness, lightning flashed and she saw a clawed hand pull back into the paddock, pulling at the cables on the fence as it disappeared. Sara felt her eyes go dry as her body refused to blink, her mouth went dry as a rock formed in her throat, and a high pitch sound rang in her ears as the lightning illuminated a large head swallowing a (nearly) whole goat in one go. A low rumble shook her core and Sara realized she was staring at a T-Rex. A growling, still hungry, hunting, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

A rock dropped in Sara’s stomach, and without meaning to, she whispered. “It was touching the fence.”

Gennaro began to hyperventilate, “O-oh Jesus! Oh Jesus!!” And before anyone could react, Gennaro had opened the door and slipped out into the storm. He didn’t even bother to close the door.

“He left us.” Lex began to hyperventilate even more, “he left us!”

“Tim,” Sara pulled him into the backseat to sit with Lex as she climbed into the front seat, ready to close the door. A metallic rumble stopped her. She turned back, not caring that she was getting wet from the rain blowing in, and watched in horror as the fence wires snapped with metallic twangs. One of the fence lines leaned forward, no longer held up by the wires, it didn’t fall completely, but it started to sway freely in the strong breeze. 

They watched, frozen in fear, as the T-Rex ripped the cables to the fence and stepped through to the road. It turned its head one way and then the other, and then let out two short roars that made Sara’s blood run cold. She’d nearly forgotten about the door still being open until the T-Rex turned and started nudging the second jeep. She reached out, her hand shaking so badly it slipped on the slick handle a few times. She turned back to keep an eye on the Rex when she saw Lex and Tim digging through the box in the trunk.

Lex pulled out a gigantic flash light, “Lex, no—!” Sara tried to warn her, but it was too late. Lex had turned the light on. Startled by its brightness, she swung the flashlight around wildly.

“Turn the light off!!” Her and Tim both cried. Sara leaned around the front seat and attempted to yank the flashlight from Lex’s hand. She could hear the T-Rex’s footsteps falling closer to them and, unable to grab the flashlight in everyone’s flailing, shouted at the kids to stop moving. 

All was silent.

The T-Rex was now right next to their jeep, curiously sniffing the air. 

And Sara realized two things at once.

One. The goddamn door was still open!!

And two. The goat leg was still on their roof!

Sara reached forward and slowly closed the door. Unfortunately, she wasn’t slow enough, for as soon as she got the door to latch shut, the T-Rex’s head snapped to look at the quivering light Lex was still holding. It turned its massive body and lowered its head. The three watched terrified as its yellow-green eye came level with the light. The T-Rex’s pupil shrunk in the light and widened as it pulled away. It growled as it sniffed their vehicle, and then it threw its head forward with a chest bellowing roar. Sara winced and covered her ears, seeing the kids do the same out of the corner of her eyes. Once it was over the T-Rex pulled back slightly, tilting its head as it inquired their vehicles presence. Lex and Tim both pressed themselves to the opposite end of the back seat, but Sara was too terrified to move.

The T-Rex dipped its head down and nudged their jeep. It tilted on its passenger side wheels, and instinctively all three of them screamed as the T-Rex nudged them twice more. “Turn the light off!” Sara screamed at Lex, not pulling her eyes away from the T-Rex.

“Turn it off!” Tim agreed he tried pulling the light from Lex’s hands but she was busy turning it looking for the off switch.

“I’m sorry!” Lex whined.

The T-Rex’s head was now hovering over their plexiglass roof, curiously looking at the bit of goat it hadn’t gotten to earlier. Sara leaned back, trying to keep the mouth full of teeth in view as the flashlight bobbed over the scaly face of the T-Rex. Too quickly, the jaws of death pounded down on the roof, breaking the plexiglass from its frame, but not breaking into pieces. Sara instinctively curled up, her forearms and shins pressing back against the plexiglass as her back painfully arched over the center console. She could still hear Lex and Tim’s screams over the T-Rex grunting and rubbing its large nose on the plexiglass. It pulled back for just a moment before slammings its head back down, chipping off more of their shield. It roared and Sara screamed as the darkness of its bottomless maw opened up before her eyes. Sara realized in horror that the T-Rex was playing with them the way a child would play with their food. 

The T-Rex must’ve figured it couldn’t get to them that way because it pulled back again. Sara finally let out a hot tear as the muscles in her back spazzed. She had to have hit half a dozen things as her back had been slammed backwards. She didn’t have the strength to sit up, even though every fiber of her being was saying to get up and shield the kids. Lex and Tim screamed as their jeep was tipped once more. She could see them fumbling in the backseat, trying to move the plexiglass off them in an attempt to run away. The jeep tipped again, only this time they rolled over off of the track. The windows shattered on impact and Sara was thrown face first into the mud. The high pitched ringing in her ears grew louder as her vision swam. Blinded by agony, Sara tried to crawl forward. The front end of the jeep was crushed, and Sara could feel as the T-Rex teethed on the underside of the jeep. Sara was crushed between the destroyed front end of the jeep and the front seats.

The ringing in her ears slowly faded and she could hear Tim and Lex screaming. 

“SARA!!! DAD!!” Lex sounded like she was crying between her screams.

“SARA!!! SARA!!” Tim was pounding against the front seats.

“Tim,” Sara choked on the mud that rushed into her mouth, she coughed and sputtered, “LEX! Lex! Timmy!! TIM!” She screamed as she tried to get his attention. She wanted to tell them to run if they could, but then the T-Rex let out another roar as the jeep sank further into the mud. Sara felt like she was suffocating. She couldn’t get enough air into her lungs, and her body was stuck. The T-Rex roared again and suddenly, they stopped sinking. Sara could feel the T-Rex walking away and she began her effort anew to escape from the metal clutches of the destroyed vehicle. 

“Lex?!” A voice came through the sound of rain and kids crying, “Tim?? Sara!!”

“Alan!” Sara screamed. She felt a hand grab her arm and pull, “NO NO NO NO NO!!” She immediately screamed in pain. “Something is stuck!! Get the kids!” Alan rapidly patted her arm a few times in reassurance before pulling away. Sara wiggled her body one way and then the other in an attempt to loosen herself, the front of the jeep had pinned her sides to the front seat crushing her ribs, and the wheel was pressed to the side of her neck. She could not move.

A terrifying thought made more tears burn her eyes. _**“I’m going to die here.”**_ The thought made her panic more and she wiggled more in a desperate attempt to free herself. Sara froze when she heard Lex let out the most blood curdling scream for a few seconds before being muffled.

Then, the jeep was spinning. And they spun until they hit what Sara assumed to be the concrete barrier separating the road from the paddock. Tim screamed and Sara realized in horror that he was still trapped with her. That’s when she noticed, his sharp sneaker bottoms were digging into her side that was exposed between the front seats. He was stuck too. She could hear Lex and Alan scream for them, but then the jeep was lifted in the air. Tim fell out with a scream, but Sara was still crushed.

“Timmy!” Sara screamed as the jeep moved, Tim crawled to her to avoid being exposed and eaten, or possibly trampled by the T-Rex. “Hold onto me!” Metal scraped on concrete as Tim curled up in her arms as much as he could. They were being pushed repeatedly, and then there was nothing.

There was wind.

There was screaming.

Something was breaking.

And then Sara hit her head.

And there was nothing.


	7. The Trees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of one tree and into another

“Sara?” A pathetic little voice wiggled at the edge of her consciousness. “Sara?” they croaked again. Sara’s brows knitted together, she just wanted to rest. Her entire body tingled with numbness, and she felt too exhausted to respond. 

“Tim! Timmy! Sara!!” A distant voice called to her, “I’m coming up, okay?”

Sara was finally able to crack her eyes open, her vision was watery and fuzzy. But she could see shapes and movement just fine. Foliage was the first thing to register as Sara blinked her eyes and struggled to focus. Then, she realized Tim was still in her arms, he was turned away from her and quivering every couple of seconds, but was silent. Finally, Sara realized where she was. She was still in the jeep, but the jeep was in a tree! Sara took a steadying breath and Tim sniffled.

“Tim,” her voice came out barely above a whisper, “what happened?” Tim didn’t answer her. She looked around as best as she could without moving her aching head. Clearly they’d fallen, the front end of the jeep was facing down, and Sara guessed that the impact knocked her loose from how she was stuck. She was curled in the front, with Tim still secured in her arms. With a groan she reached up and laid a hand on her throbbing head. There were a couple of small cuts, and as she trailed her hand down to rub her neck she felt a large welt. Squinting in confusion, Sara thought to what could have caused that when she realized it must have been from the steering wheel whipping by her as she was slammed back onto the passenger side of the jeep.

“Tim? Sara? Do you hear me? I’m coming up!” A distant voice caught her attention. 

Sara knew she should respond to let him know they were okay, but she couldn’t find the strength or her voice. Now that she was awake, everything was really starting to hurt and throb. She couldn’t feel her legs from the knee down, her arms were burning, and her head was spinning out of control.

“Sara? Tim?” It was Alan, he was outside the drivers side. His face was filthy, and he had a large, bloody gash on his cheek bone. “You two alright?” He asked quietly as he gently opened and lowered the driver’s side door. 

“I threw up.” Tim’s voice gargled as though he were holding back tears. Sara didn’t have the strength to answer, so she only raised her chin slightly in response.

After taking a visual note of their state, Alan said, “oh, th—that’s okay Tim. Just gimme your hand.” He reached into the jeep.

Sara, realizing her arms were still around Tim, slowly released him. It was a painful process, and Sara likened it to how thick sticks would break if you pulled at them enough. It felt like her arms were snapping back into place as she let Tim go. Tim, however, didn’t move.

“Tim, I won’t tell anyone you threw up, just,” he leaned in further, pulling himself halfway in the jeep by the squeaky steering wheel, “gimme your hand.”

Shaking, Tim reached up to grab the exposed part of the frame. Would she have had more energy, she would have warned him to be careful of any plexiglass shards, but she just let out a small moan of relief as Tim’s weight left her body. Her legs throbbed with pins and needles as Tim very cautiously climbed through the jeep. Alan kept a steadying hand on him, trying to help him out.

“Come on, Tim.” Alan coaxed.

“Don’t,” Tim weakly protested, “Don’t pull me.”

“I won’t.” Alan responded, “just trying to help you and Sara get out.” Sara was finally able to loll her head to one side, the welt in her neck screaming in pain as she did so. Her arms were caked in mud, and her clothes were now stained a lovely brown color. Her jeans shorts, her blue and silver blouse, her steel toed boots, and every inch of skin was covered in mud. Under the dirt, she could see several contusions and abrasions on her arms and legs, no doubt from the impact that jolted her.

 _“Speaking of,”_ Sara reached back up to her head and felt around. There was a large bump on the back of her head that Sara was scared would require medical attention. 

“Come on Sara, you next.” Alan reached back through the jeep after making sure Tim was steady on his feet on the branch outside.

Sara took his hands and shakily pushed herself up, the jeep creaked and groaned under the shift in weight. She could feel her camera bag was somehow still around her body, still hanging by her hip. She'd check it later and consider it a miracle if her camera survived that whole ordeal. Even though the pins and needles made her want to double over in painful laughter, Sara climbed through and slid out of the jeep into Alan’s arms. He made sure she was steady on her feet before addressing them both, each of his hands covering one of theirs.

“Okay, this’ll be easy, this is just like climbing out of a treehouse, did your dad’s ever build you guys a treehouse?” Alan spoke rapidly.

“No.” Tim answered miserably, and Sara shook her head.

“Yeah, me too,” Alan nervously licked his lips, “okay, so the biggest trick is; you never never look down.” His advice came too late as Tim and Sara both had already looked down. The ground seemed to stretch away from them, wobbling as her vision grew hazy.

“This is impossible.” Tim looked up at both of them with watery brown eyes.

“So,” Alan looked down, “I’m gonna help you guys down, one at a—!” A large branch snapped and the three snapped their heads to look at the jeep. “Oh no, kids, go!” He shouted. Sara’s legs had still not woken up, they were almost directly under the jeep, and she knew there was no way she’d make it down—Tim and Alan were already halfway down when the jeep let out a second groan—!

Sara tenderly stretched a shaking leg out to find another branch and she climbed around to the side to avoid the jeep altogether. She cried out as the jeep snapped free from its branching prison. It hurtled past her and slammed into a thick branch directly above Alan’s head. Sara whimpered, every movement was pure agony as she slowly climbed down, blindly following the sound of the crashing jeep until it came to a shuttering stop at (what Sara presumed to be—) the ground. She made it to the ground as Alan and Tim were crawling out from under the overturned jeep and Lex was running up to them. 

Lex looked Tim over before pulling him into a silent, tight hug. Tim struggled against her for a moment before giving up and saying, “I threw up everywhere.” As his face was mushed into her shoulder. She immediately pushed him away with a sound of disgust and wiped off her muddy shirt. Now that Sara’s head had stopped swimming so badly, she was able to see the large cut in Tim’s eyebrow as well as a small cut by the outside corner of his eye. Lex had a cut that curved over her forehead, down across her nose and under her eye, several small cuts on her chin, and a large already purple bruise on her shoulder. She could only imagine what she looked like.

“What do we do now?” Lex asked, slowly raising her arms to hug herself.

“Now we, uhh—…” Alan looked at the three of them awkwardly, “Well, I suppose we walk back to the Visitor’s Center.”

Sara turned and craned her neck back to look at the tall cliff they’d fallen down and winced. “Which way **is** the Visitor’s Center?” She asked.

Alan paused, looked up at the road above, then closed his eyes in an attempt to visualize their route. He turned a few times before settling on a direction. “This way.” He started off walking. Tim and Lex each grabbed one of Sara’s hands. She begrudgingly started trudging after Alan. 

Sara was absolutely miserable. Though the pins and needles feeling had gone away when they started walking, her entire body itched. Sara had never enjoyed wearing wet clothes of any kind, especially wet socks, and she could feel water and mud sloshing around in her boots. Every step felt like she was tearing and grinding the bones at the knees. Her arms felt like dead weights with the kids holding onto her, and her chest ached like she couldn’t get enough air in, unknowingly making her panic and making tears sting the edges of her eyes. She tried to focus on the ground under her to distract her from all the pain she was in. Thankfully both kids and Alan were silent, allowing her to do so. Internally she listed off everything she walked over.

_“Twig. Mud. Leaves. Bush. Vine. Roots. Twig. Twig. Leaves.”_

The ground eventually reached a sharp incline and Sara’s breathing, which she’d kept fairly quiet until this point, became audible wheezing. She struggled to lift her knees high enough, the grinding under her knee cap squeezing and creaking out loud as she tried to keep up. Alan finally looked back and saw her struggling. 

“Tim, why don’t you come up here?” Alan called. Tim looked torn between keeping his pace or taking the two extra steps to keep pace with Alan. Luckily, Alan sensed Tim’s tiredness and he slowed to their pace in order to take Tim’s free hand and guide him away once more. Now, Alan’s pace was slow. Slow enough Sara could reach out and grab the back of his shirt if she wanted to, but she just kept walking, internally listing all the things on the ground.

_”Rock. Leaves. Root. Root. Sticks. Rock.”_

The ground finally evened out, and without meaning to, Sara whined. Alan stopped to look back at her, and the kids also peered up at her curiously. “I,” Sara was gasping for air at this point, hot tears streaming down her face, and panic making her voice quiver, “I can’t do it, I can’t walk anymore.”

Alan’s eyes saddened with concern, “we’ll stop soon, Sara, I promise. We just have to find a safe spot to do so, okay?” Sara continued to gasp for air, but she nodded. Her head was starting to pound again—or had it always been throbbing? She couldn’t remember. “Here, let’s just…” Alan looked around. There were several tall trees, with gnarly roots that wove around each other above ground before sinking into the soft earth below. “Let’s just sit.” Alan finished, hoisting Tim up onto an arch shaped root.

“My head hurts.” Tim frowned, eyes watery as he latched onto Alan’s sleeve.

“Well,” Alan admitted to him, “You’ve got a pretty good nick by your eyebrow,” he held Tim’s small face in his large hand and gave his forehead a swipe over his bloody eyebrow.

“Will I lose it?” Tim asked, scared.

Alan made a show of turning Tim’s head one way and then the other, “You may.” He admitted. Tim’s mouth dropped in shock and Sara was about to tell Alan off for being so blunt, but then Alan smirked, “But eyebrows grow back quicker than you think.” Tim snickered and Alan smiled awkwardly at him, giving in a once over to make sure he didn’t have any other major injuries.

He moved on to Lex next, telling her about the cut running across her face as well as the bruise on her shoulder. “Nothing a shower and a band aid can’t fix.” He reassured her. Just then, a distant roar that sounded too familiar echoed in the distance. They all froze, staring in the direction of the sound. Sara’s blood ran cold, and even though she felt hot her sweat felt freezing as it dripped down her forehead and back. 

A second roar echoed in the distance. “Are you hearing this?” Lex breathed.

“Come on, Tim.” Alan helped Tim off the root, he looked at Sara and she hoped she looked pathetic enough so he wouldn’t rush them any further. “Let’s,” Alan thought as he looked around, “let’s get up in this tree.” Tim whined.

“Oooh, oh man.”

“It’s okay, Tim.” Alan reassured him, helping him climb up the thick roots while Lex scrambled ahead.

“I hate trees.” Tim spat out with as much venom as his little body could handle.

“They don’t bother me.” Lex taunted over her shoulder.

“Oh yeah? Well you weren’t in the last one.” Correction, Tim somehow spat that out with even more animosity.

Sara just stared at the tree, trying to find the will to make herself climb. Alan got Lex and Tim to a small level area where the branches all seemed to stem from and turned back. She clutched the strap to her camera bag tightly, glad she still had her safety net to hold onto. She still hadn't checked on her camera, too afraid of what she might find inside the bag.

“Sara,” he climbed back down enough to reach out to her, “Come on. It's alright.” He gently encouraged her. She looked into his light blue eyes, they’d softened a considerable amount since they met a few hours ago. As Sara took his hand and allowed him to guide her aching body up the tree, she couldn’t help but put all her trust into this stranger. If going up the tree was his idea of keeping them safe from dinosaurs, who better to suggest it than a dinosaur expert? 

“Here, you three stay here.” He said as he allowed Sara to sit between the kids. They immediately cuddled up to her and she recalled a moment about an hour or so ago when they were in a similar position and talking about all the food they’d eat. Now, they were all silently staring up at Alan.

“Where will you rest?” Sara asked quietly, realizing she hadn’t spoken much since her breakdown earlier. She hated how young and scared she sounded, especially in front of the kids.

“I’ll,” Alan looked around, “I’ll rest right here.” He climbed onto a thick branch to their left and propped his legs up, one crossed over the other at the ankle.

Sara blankly stared out ahead of her. They were in a rather tall tree, able to look out at a wide expanse of jungle. Scattered in the distance were several large trees until Tim exclaimed, “hey, lookit! Those are brontosaurus’s—I mean uhh—Brachiosaurus!” He pointed. Sara squinted, and sure enough those large trees were brachiosaur’s grazing on the treetops. 

The brachiosaur’s were making deep, melodic, bellowing sounds, “it sounds like they’re singing.” Sara breathed. In the low light of the evening, the dinosaurs were almost purple, and they swayed as they swung their head from tree to tree.

The three jumped when Alan made a strange noise. Sara leaned forward to see he had both his hands curled up into fists, pressed end to end together, and was blowing against one fist that was pressed to his lips. He almost looked like he was playing a trumpet. The noise caught the dinosaurs' attention too because they all trumpeted in response and craned their necks to look in their direction.

“Don’t call the monsters over here!” Lex exclaimed, wrapping both her arms tightly around Sara’s arm. 

“They’re not monsters, Lex, they’re just animals.” Alan explained, “these are herbivores.”

“That means they only eat leafs but for you I think they’d make an exception.” Tim teased with a giggle.

“Tim,” Sara warned him as Lex shuddered and sat back.

“Well, I hate the other kind.” She hissed as she crossed her arms.

“Well, the other kind just do what they do.” Alan grunted as he settled down on his branch.

Sara wondered as her heart stuttered in her chest. After a moment of silence where Sara was aware of the cold sweat dripping down her back, Tim spoke up from under Sara’s arm.

“What do you call a blind dinosaur?” He asked.

Sara looked at him curiously. “I don’t know…” she admitted.

“What do you?” Alan asked softly.

“Do-you-think-he-saur-us.” Tim giggled the answered, cuddling into Sara’s side as he stretched his legs. Alan chuckled and Sara smiled, reaching up to rustle Tim’s hair. “What do you call a blind dinosaur’s dog?” He asked, a cheekily. 

After letting out a breathy laugh, Alan tsked, “ya got me.” He said, stumped.

“Do-you-think-he-saur-us Rex.” Tim grinned and then yawned.

“What if all the dinosaurs come back?” Lex asked, linking her arm with Sara’s.

“Well, I’ll just stay up all night.” Alan said, resting his hands on his stomach.

“All night? Alan, I could help.” Sara insisted, sitting forward so he could see her.

“No, that’s fine, don’t worry.” Alan reassured her, “you need your rest.” 

“But—,” Sara tried to argue, but Alan turned to look at her.

“All night.” Was all he said with a tired smirk before turning back around and settling once more into his relaxed position. 

Lex and Tim dozed off slowly, their tight grip on Sara loosening as they sank further and further into a deep sleep. Sara alternated resting her head atop theirs, wishing them a peaceful sleep untainted by nightmares. She knew her own mind would not be as peaceful, a tumultuous storm raging inside. Every time she closed her eyes she saw that open jaw, those sharp teeth, the burning eyes of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. She shuddered involuntarily and Alan hummed in response.

“Sara, you fell out of a tree today after coming face-to-face with a T-Rex.” He reminded her, she felt like she was going to throw up, “you need your rest.”

 _”Everything hurts.”_ she wanted to say. Instead she let out a short huff through her nose and tried to relax back against the relatively smooth trunk of the tree. Now that everyone was quiet, she wanted to check on her bag, however, Tim was curled up right beside it and she didn't want to disturb him. _"I'll wait until he moves around a little so I can at least unzip the bag."_ Sara thought, but Tim hardly stirred aside from kicking his legs out every now and then. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her eyes open. The sounds of bugs and birds all clamoring about was enough white noise to put her to sleep.

She dreamed of flashes of light, impossibly large jaws filled with razor sharp teeth. She was as small as a mouse, being toyed with a monstrous shadow. At some point, she jerked herself awake, the terrors in her mind becoming too much. Lex made a small noise in her sleep at the jerking, and Tim let out a single snore as he readjusted herself under her arm. Sara immediately stilled herself, just in case a dinosaur spotted her. Her heart was beating so hard and so fast she was afraid the sound would attract something to their location. After a few minutes of forced breathing, keeping her eyes squeezed shut, and resisting the urge to squeeze the kids to her to protect them from the threat in her head she finally relaxed again.

“It’s okay.” Alan said quietly. So quietly, Sara, at first, wasn’t sure if he’d even spoken, but then he added, “try to get a little more sleep.” Sara wasn’t sure what time it was, but she listened to Alan’s advice and drifted back to sleep.

Her nightmares were just as torturous as before, but she thankfully didn’t remember the details when she woke up.


	8. The Herd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the group makes a shocking discovery they have to quickly outrun The Herd.

Sara woke when the first sun rays filtered above the treetops. She silently watched as the sun came up, refracting all of the water still clinging to the foliage to create a dazzling show of colors in the jungle. Pity such a beautiful sight was tainted by such a horrible experience. She tried to get a few more minutes of shut eye, but with the sun now up it felt impossible. However, Sara realized she must have dozed off again because she felt herself being jostled by Lex’s sudden movement.

“Go away!” She shrieked.

Immediately Sara woke up, sharply inhaling through her nose as she tried to focus on her surroundings. She could feel the tree shake ever so slightly as branches were ripped and torn from just under their sleeping area. It wasn’t until a massive head pulled back that Sara saw what had caused Lex to scream.

“It’s alright, Lex, it’s a brachiosaur.” Alan reassured her breathlessly. He stood up on his branch and looked around for something to entice the brachiosaur into coming closer again. 

Tim was also woken up when Lex screamed and his eyes sparkled as he exclaimed, “It’s a veggie-saurus, Lex! Veggie-saur!” Sara took a shaky breath as Alan lowered a thick branch at biting height for the brachiosaur. Up close, Sara could see all the wrinkles muscles in the dinosaur’s jaw move as it grinded the branches and leaves down to a pulp. “Come on, yum!” Tim rubbed his belly before trying to reach out to the dinosaur.

“Careful!” Sara ignored the screams of protest in her body to reach forward and wrap her arm around Tim’s middle to keep him from falling out of the tree. 

“Come on girl,” Tim mostly ignored her and patted his legs like he was trying to beckon a dog. 

Alan excused himself and stood on their little platform holding a large branch, “Come on,” he called gently, “come on, baby.” 

The brachiosaur leaned back and let out a short roar. Sara immediately screwed her eyes shut and covered her ears, her heart thundering wildly in her chest. She only opened her eyes when she felt bits of the branch brush her leg. The brachiosaur had taken Alan’s branch and was playing with it, allowing Alan to tug it around. “I’m not letting go!” He laughed. 

The dinosaur gave in, probably realizing it was exerting more energy by fighting the branch than just leaning closer and allowing itself in arms reach of these strange small creatures. Sara watched as Alan and Tim both stroked the large snout of the brachiosaur. Mesmerized by its slow blinking eyes, Sara sat forward and reached out to touch the warm leathery skin. Like the triceratops, it was strangely soft, and Sara found herself unable to pull away. 

“It looks like it has a cold.” Tim pointed out, and Sara saw the drainage leaking from the dinosaur’s nostrils at the top of its head. 

“Maybe.” Alan agreed.

Lex squeezed up between Sara and Alan, staring at the brachiosaur in wide-eyed wonder and gingerly reaching out, “Can I touch it?” she asked.

“Sure.” Alan smiled, “Just think of it as kind of a big cow.” He prepped her for the sensation she’d feel. However, just as Lex reached out, the brachiosaur pulled away. Lex frowned. 

Sara saw the brachiosaur was turning its head towards the branch Alan had slept on and she gently turned the girl in that direction, “Try over there.” She said.

Lex eagerly climbed up and laid on the branch, putting her hand out like she was calling for a cat, “Come here girl, come on.” The brachiosaur reared its head back once more and Sara braced herself for another roar. Instead, they watched in horror and (in Tim’s case) amusement as the brachiosaur let out the loudest, most violent sneeze they’d ever seen and blasted Lex with snot. 

Tim, still giggling, stood up on their platform and cupped one hand to his mouth, “God bless you!” he shouted.

They sat for a few more minutes, watching the brachiosaur’s in the distance as they finished their grazing and wandered off. “Come on, if we want to get to the Visitor’s Center by noon, we should get going.” Alan instructed. Lex scrambled down the tree no problem, and Tim, now that he was fully rested, followed her at his own pace. Alan climbed down, occasionally stopping to look back and make sure Sara was still following him down. “You doing alright?” He asked, offering her a hand for the final jump down to the forest floor.

Sara frowned, _“It feels like a metal rod has been shoved between my knee caps, and that metal rods have replaced my shin bones.”_ she felt like a creaky toy puppet, barely able to hold herself up, but Lex and Tim were running between the tall roots as Lex attempted to rub off the dinosaur snot on Tim. She didn’t want Alan looking at her like she was a weakling that couldn’t even keep up with kids who’d been through the same ordeal she’d gone through. She swallowed and tightened the grip on her camera bag strap. “I’m fine.” She finally answered him. “Do you have anything sharp?” She asked before he could turn away.

Alan dug around in his pockets and eventually he pulled out a long six inch blade. “Not the sharpest, but it’s what I’ve got.” He sheepishly admitted, slapping it into her hand.

Sara realized as she turned the blade over that it wasn’t actually a blade, but a fossil. The fossil of a velociraptor claw. Sara shuddered as she dug the claw into the shoulder seam of her blouse. It tore just as she wanted it to. She faced the kids, still chasing each other. “Lex, come here,” Sara called as Alan tried to map out which direction they needed to walk. Lex finally gave up chasing Tim and staggered over to Sara. Sara ripped the sleeves off her blue and silver blouse, instantly regretting it, but she knew it would make Lex feel better. “Here.” She began to wipe the snot off and handed Lex the other ripped off sleeve. Lex looked torn, but eventually accepted the offer and wiped herself down. 

“It’s this way.” Alan said coming back over to them and pointing the direction they’d be taking.

Sara tossed away her snotty sleeve once she could no longer wipe anything off of Lex, “Here.” She held out the fossil claw. 

Alan looked at it for a moment before shaking his head, “You keep it.” Was all he said before he started hiking off in the direction he’d chosen. Confused, Sara tucked the fossil into her camera bag for safe keeping.

She followed the others, making sure the kids stayed between her and Alan so they didn’t wander too far. Finally having a moment, Sara gathered the courage to unzip her camera bag. By some grace from above her camera was mostly unharmed. Some dirt and a little bit of water sloshed around in the bag, but when Sara turned it on, it gave a familiar beep. Sara sighed in relief as she pulled the camera out and put the strap around her neck. 

“Is it okay?” Sara jumped when she realized Alan had slowed down to ask her.

“Yeah,” Sara breathed out, “thank god.” 

Lex kept wiping at herself, eventually discarding the sleeve of her blouse when it was too snotty to clean her. “Yuck.” She snipped as she tossed the sleeve away. She climbed over a tall root, still wiping at herself with her bare hands.

“Great.” Tim groaned, tired of listening to Lex’s quiet mutterings of disgust, “Now she’ll never try anything new. She’ll just sit in her room and never come out and play on her computer.” Tim climbed over the root, following her.

“I’m a hacker.” Lex snapped. Alan braced himself and jumped over the root. He turned and started to hold a hand out for Sara when something on the ground caught his eye.

“What is it?” Sara asked, leaning over the root. Her eyes got wide and she felt a cold sweat start up on her back.

“That’s what I said, you’re a nerd.” Tim’s voice started to grow distant.

“I am **not** a computer nerd. I prefer to be called a hacker.” Lex retorted. 

“Guys!” Sara called. The kids turned and ran back over.

On the ground, nestled between two tall roots was a nest of about a dozen or so cracked and empty eggs. Alan knelt down and picked one up, “Do you know what this is?” He asked, his eyes wide with wonder as he turned it over in his hand. “It’s a dinosaur egg.” He explained to them.

“The dinosaurs are breeding.” Sara realized. Dr. Malcolm was right. 

“But,” Tim accepted the egg as Alan handed it to him, “My grandpa said all the dinosaurs were girls.”

Alan looked at Sara puzzled. Dr. Wu had said that population control was their number one concern, and that they denied the dinosaurs from becoming male. So, how were they breeding. Alan must have been thinking the same thing, but his eyes widened in realization, “Amphibian DNA.” He realized.

“What’s that?” Lex asked.

“Well,” Alan picked up another egg and held it close to his face, as though studying it with all his sense at once, “on the tour the film said they used frog DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps.”

“What?” The kids both echoed.

“They mutated the dinosaur genetic code,” Sara explained, “and blended it with that of frogs.” Alan nodded at her explanation, “But what does that have to do with their breeding?” She asked.

“Now,” he explained to the three of them, “Some west african frogs have been known to spontaneously change sex from male to female in a single sex environment.”

“All the dinosaurs were female so some changed.” Sara realized with horror. How long had this been going on? Did Dr. Wu know? How could they not?

Alan nodded and pointed away from the nest, “Look.” In the dirt they saw dozens of little two-toed footprints circling around before eventually disappearing into the grass. “Malcolm was right.” Alan shook his head in disbelief, “life found a way.”

Sara pulled her camera up, the lens was dirty, but with a quick couple of swipes against her palm, she was able to get a fairly clear picture of Alan in the nest with Tim and Lex both holding eggs. Unusual chirping caught her attention and she reached down to pull at Alan’s shirt, “I’d rather get going now rather than later if the kids come back to the nest.” Lex apparently hadn’t thought of that because her eyes got wide, she turned sharply on her heel, and walked away. Alan nodded after seeing her go and he stood up. He helped Sara over the nest before they quickened their pace. 

Eventually they made it out of the jungle, coming upon some hilly terrain. “Maybe we should stay in the shade?” Sara suggested, fanning herself. Tim and Lex nodded, equally sweaty.

Alan frowned, “it’ll take us out of the way.” He hesitated.

“Not by much though.” Sara mapped the route along the tree lines, but realized the tree line dipped farther back than she realized, and going straight through the open area would be much quicker. She sighed, “fine, come on,” she motioned for the kids to follow them. The sun was high in the sky and the heat was so intense Sara felt like she was melting. She focused on her breathing and her steps. One foot in front of the other.

_”Grass. Grass. Grass. Dirt. Flower. Grass. Grass.”_

“Careful,” Alan grabbed her arm, shaking her out of her thoughts. She looked up and blushed as she realized she’d nearly walked into a fallen tree log in the middle of the field. What was it doing there? She thanked him as they walked around the log.

“I’m so sweaty.” Lex complained as she pulled at her tank top.

“I’m tired.” Tim staggered beside her, “I’m hot.”

“Yes, well,” Alan kept trudging forward, “the Visitor’s Center should be about a mile,” he pointed in the distance at a small rise, “over that rise there.”

Suddenly, the ground shook with thunder and Sara snapped her head up to try and find out what was coming at them. A large herd of about twenty dinosaurs ran out of the jungle. They jumped around erratically, thundering over the landscape as they ran.

“Tim,” Alan motioned to him breathlessly, “Tim, can you tell me what they are?” He asked, drawing a blank.

“Ger...uh,” Tim scratched at his head, “Galla—Ger uh...Galla...Gallimimus!” He finally got it and he flashed Sara and Alan a proud smile.

“Look at them,” Alan squinted in the sunlight, “like a flock of birds evading a predator.”

The herd turned and ran up the hill at them. “They’re uhh, they’re flocking this way.” Tim said, the pride in his voice gone replaced with terror. By the time Sara had registered what he’d said and had turned around Lex and Tim were gone. They were already running for cover. 

Sara took off after them, hoping Alan was following behind. They were no match for the Gallimimus herd, they were quickly overtaken by the large bipedal beasts. They were nearly double the height of Sara, with tanned skin that was speckled and striped. The Gallies screamed and shrieked as they ran around the four. They came upon the fallen log and jumped over it, ducking down for cover on the other side. Sara could barely feel her heart over the pounding of the Gallimimus feet jumping over and running around the log.

“Go, go!” Alan pushed them back through the way they had come, “the pack is leaving. Whatever they’re running from will follow.”

No sooner had they gotten through the other side and turned around to watch the herd run off when a familiar blood curdling roar shook Sara to her core. 

The Tyrannosaur Rex burst through the treeline and lunged at the herd. Its jaws opened and it snapped down on the slowest of the herd to dodge its attack. It pulled back when its prey had fallen, leaving a large bloody bite mark on its back. The Gallimimus looked up, letting out a poignant little cry, a distressed and heartbreaking sound that made a rock form in Sara’s throat. She covered her mouth to keep from gasping as the T-Rex bit down on the Gallie once more, shaking it mercilessly like a dog would do to a chew toy.

“I want to go now.” Sara said, squeezing her eyes shut and turning away. The queasy feeling from yesterday shook her insides as she listened to the T-Rex devour its meal.

“Just look how it eats.” Alan’s voice was even as he studied the scene.

“Please.” Lex pleaded, agreeing with Sara.

“Bet you’ll never look at birds the same way.” Alan cheekily chuckled under his breath.

“Go now.” Lex pleaded.

“Alright.” Alan turned away, he grabbed Sara and Lex’s arms. “Stay low and follow me.” He instructed.

They started to crawl off when Tim stood up from his hiding spot, completely mesmerized by the T-Rex. “Look how much blood,” he whispered in awe. Alan winced as he crawled back over and dragged Tim away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will probably be one more chapter to this segment and then I’ll start posting Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World


	9. The Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end is so close...and yet...

After avoiding the T-Rex, the four climbed their way through the jungle until they came upon a fence! For as far as they could see in both directions the fence was still standing and hadn’t been damaged by the storm.

Tim and Lex both started to run for it, but Sara held them back, “no!” They all looked at her in wide eyed shock, even Alan, “what if it’s still electrified?” She asked sheepishly.

Alan’s eyes widened in realization, “oh.” He said, then he turned in circles scanning the ground. “Ah!” He picked up a large stick and hoisted himself up on the concrete barrier around the fence. He tossed the stick at the fence and it dropped with a clatter. He turned to them, “guess that means the power is still out.” He shrugged. Alan then turned back to the fence and reached out.

“Alan, wait!” Sara protested, but he grabbed the fence and began convulsing and screaming. Lex and Tim screamed in shock before Alan immediately stopped and smirked at them over his shoulder.

“Alan!” Sara shrieked as her face turned bright red from embarrassment.

“That’s not funny.” Lex gritted her teeth.

“That was great!” Tim laughed.

“If we’re done playing games.” Sara let go of the kids and crossed her arms, “How do we get through?” She made a show out of looking both directions the fence went, as if looking for a break they could crawl through.

Alan frowned and turned back to the fence, “maybe we could,” he tried pulling at the fence and squeezing through, but the metal didn’t give. A roar in the distance stopped all four of them and Sara turned to face the jungle for only a moment before she began pushing Lex and Tim to the fence. 

“Go! Go!” She shouted, she turned back, picked Tim up, giving him a boost, and Alan pulled him the rest of the way up. Sara braced herself on the ledge when Alan turned back and hoisted her up from under her arms. 

The other three began to climb. Sara took a breath. Still hesitant, she let out an involuntary shudder as she grasped the hot metal of the fence and began to climb. It was like an awkwardly spaced ladder, and ever the child-like comedians that they were, Lex and Tim began to quarrel.

“Tim, I bet I could climb all the way to the top and back down before you even got to the top.” Sara tried to ignore their banter and focus on her own footing.

“What would you give me?” Tim asked, struggling to climb due to his short legs and new fear of heights. Sara easily passed him and kept climbing.

“Respect.” Lex giggled.

“Come on guys, it’s not a race.” Alan said, focused entirely on his own footing and climbing. Alan and Lex climbed over the top and back down again. Sara made it to the top but she lingered long enough to place a hand on Tim’s back and steady him as he climbed over. Once he had found his footing, Sara continued her climb down.

She wasn’t even halfway down when an alarm started blaring over them. With a scream, Sara let go of the fence, terrified it may have turned back on. She fell for only a second before she landed on her feet. A jolt of pain from her ankles caused Sara to immediately crumble onto her side on the edge of the concrete platform, something cracked in her arm and shoulder as she landed. But she wasn’t done moving, she tumbled down again and landed in the dirt.

“Sara!!” Lex screamed.

“Sara!” Alan shouted.

Sara let out a wild scream as she fell, but was silenced after landing and getting the wind knocked out of her. Something had to have broken! It was the most intense pain she’d ever been in, and she’d fallen into a tree! Hot white spots danced around her vision, and somewhere in the distance she could hear Lex and Alan now shouting for Tim. Wasn’t he down yet? Sara held her left arm to her as she struggled to her feet.

“Tim, you have to do what Dr. Grant says right now!” Lex screamed. Sara turned and in her dazed state saw Tim was clinging to the fence for dear life with the alarm still blaring.

“I’ve got to go up and get him,” Alan started walking towards the fence, Lex pulled at his arm, scared of being left on the ground, “Lex, I’ve got to go get your brother—!”

“Timmy!” Sara screamed as sparks flew from Tim’s hands and he was shot off from the fence. Alan turned just in time to catch him, falling backwards into the dirt. Immediately, Alan flipped over and laid Tim on the ground.

“Timmy?! Timmy!!” Lex screamed as she ran to them.

“Alan! Tim!” Sara followed with a slight limp, still holding her arm. 

Tim looked peaceful, almost like he was sleeping, but his hands and ears were bleeding profusely, and his hair was sticking up in wild directions. Alan pressed his ear to Tim’s chest, “he’s not breathing.” Alan said grimly. “Do—do either of you—?”

“Know CPR?” Sara finished. Alan nodded. Lex shook her head. “I do,” Sara admitted, “but, I think my arm’s broken.” She dropped to her knees on the other side of Tim, “I can walk you through it.” She said, immediately recalling a few summers ago when she worked at a waterpark to make a boy in her class jealous. She swallowed, _”please, dear God, Tim, don’t be dead.”_ She took a deep breath, “put the heel of your hand here,” she pointed to his chest, “and your other hand on top.” Alan followed her instructions. “Then you’re gonna to press down at a steady rate—“

“A steady rate?” Alan questioned as he got into position, glancing up at her with his eyebrows screwed up in concern.

“Look, I—,” She blushed in frustration, “you need about a hundred or hundred twenty compressions a minute, with a break every thirty to give breath—“

“Give breath?” Alan repeated in shock, his eyes grew even wider.

“Dr. Grant!” Sara snapped, “You’ve got to do this!” Her voice quivered with panic.

Alan took a steadying breath and shook his shoulders out, “okay.” He started doing compressions, counting each out loud.

“When you give breath, make sure his head is tilted back and his tongue is out of the way, or else he could suffocate.” Sara instructed, “you’ll also want to plug his nose.” She added quickly, hoping she was remembering everything. She could feel Lex pacing behind her, and felt bad that she couldn’t turn back and comfort her. Tim needed her attention more.

After a few more compressions Alan did as Sara had instructed, blowing into Tim’s mouth. When Tim didn’t stir, Lex let out a stifled sob. “Tim!” Alan shouted, he did a few more compressions before giving Tim another breath.

“Alan, don’t panic—!” Sara tried to reach for him but her left arm immediately flared in pain and she went back to cradling it. She held her breath as she watched Alan perform more CPR, any longer without oxygen and they’d be going into dangerous brain damage territory and Sara hated thinking about the step after that.

“No, Tim!” Alan shouted. He went back to give Tim another breath when Tim started coughing. Lex immediately stopped pacing and dropped to her knees beside them, crying silently as Tim gasped for air. “Good boy, Tim!” Alan cried out, holding the boy close, “Good boy!”

The four near total strangers, in a moment of euphoria and exhaustion, clung to each other in an embrace on the ground. Sara tried her best to calm her breathing and stop the bile that was building up in her stomach from all the stress they had gone through. After everyone had collected themselves, Alan stood up, Sara and Lex tried to help Tim stand, but his legs immediately crumbled under him.

“Hold on,” Alan knelt down and scooped Tim up in his arms, “we’re not far, come on.” He called over his shoulder as he turned in a seemingly random direction. Sara held her left arm tightly, her hand growing sweaty. Lex walked beside Sara, a fistful of her blouse in her hand. The walk was silent, and everyone had their heads on a swivel, save for Sara.

_“Grass. Dirt. Rock. Puddle. Grass. Grass. Twig.”_

She staggered on after Alan, praying to any being that would listen that there would be something to sling her arm through for support at the Visitor’s Center. Her ankles felt like they were clicking with every step, if they weren’t broken they were definitely injured in some way. Part of Sara hoped that maybe they were just stressed from all the walking and the fall, or that of her ankles were broken that she had enough adrenaline and shock to keep her moving until they were safe. Finally it registered in her head that they were walking along a familiar metal track and she looked up to see the Visitor’s Center in the distance! Sara started hyperventilating in excitement! They were safe! They were finally safe! The group moved quicker, caring less about having their heads on a swivel and more on getting to safety. Sara quickened her pace, nearly Alan’s heels as they ran up the stairs of the Visitor’s Center. The exterior and interior were no longer bustling with construction workers, and the inside was eerily quiet. 

“Hello?” Alan called as Lex opened the door for them. They looked around, but no one came out. They paused as they looked around. Was no one there? Did they _all_ leave? Where was everybody?

Heart throbbing in her throat, “Hello?” Sara called. Her excitement was quickly replaced with dread. “Where **is** everyone?” she wondered to out loud. 

“Come on, in here.” Alan nodded towards a door to their right. He forced the powered-down automatic door open and shifted Tim onto a hip as he did a quick scan of the room. “Okay.” He walked in, Sara and Lex following. “We’re going to have to find the others and get you guys,” he grunted as he sat Tim on top of a table, “to a doctor.” Tim looked at them miserably. 

“Sara?” Alan turned to her, “are you okay to look after them?”

 _“Don’t go.”_ she wanted to say, but she tightened her jaw and stood up a little straighter, “yeah.” She tried to ignore the pain she felt from her shoulders to her feet as she gave him a reassuring smile.

Alan nodded, giving his thanks. “Hey,” He stopped before he turned away, he smiled at Tim and gave him a few pats on the head, “your hair is all sticking up.” He teased. Tim gave him a weak laugh, “big Tim, the human piece of toast.” He smiled.

Sara smiled, _“Ellie would have loved to have seen this. God, I hope she is okay.”_

Alan laid a hand on her good shoulder, “I’ll be back soon,” he said, then he turned to Lex and Tim, “I promise.” And with that, he was back out the door they’d come through. 

Sara surveyed the room, it was clearly meant to be some sort of buffet or dining area. Several long tables and round tables with pristine white tablecloths sat randomly around the room. One wall was lined with tables holding mountains of food, no doubt their untouched supper from the night before. The large curved wall that they had come through had a mural of several kinds of dinosaurs painted on it. In one corner of the room was a door that more than likely led to a maintenance hallway and kitchen, and in the other sat a little gift shop full of clothes and toys. She watched Lex walk over to the buffet, followed by Tim limping straight to the dessert table. 

“I’ll be right over here.” She told them, her arm requiring more attention than her stomach. She’d reach the point where she was so hungry she no longer felt hunger pains. After she got a nod from Lex letting her know they’d heard her, Sara browsed the clothing in the gift shop. Most of the items were catered to young children; graphic t-shirts, stuffed animals, coloring books, and figurines. But, she did eventually find a few adult items. She found a Jurassic Park scarf, the lightweight type that was partially see-through, it was grey with dark grey fossils scattered on the pattern, and in the center (it was meant to be worn triangle style around the shoulders of a rich old white woman in white khaki pants—Sara snorted at the mental image that produced) was the Jurassic Park logo. She pulled it off the mannequin it was decorating and carried it between the fingers of her good hand. It would be her backup in case she didn’t find what she was looking for. She frowned as she dug around behind the cash register. _“I was really hoping there would be a first aid kit…”_ her thoughts trailed off as her stomach grumbled. It was no use, she had something that would at least get her back to the mainland, and the food Lex and Tim were eating smelled so good.

Carefully, she wrapped her left arm, and then tied the scarf across her body in a makeshift sling. It wasn’t the best, and she was probably doing more harm than good to her arm, but she could at least pull her right arm free without her left screaming in agony. She walked to the food tables and grabbed a plate. Sara’s mouth was practically watering at all the food, and though she knew she should pace herself, lest she get sick, her eyes ended up being bigger than her stomach as she piled chicken wings, grapes, two rolls, some pasta, and a slice of chocolate cake on her plate. 

“Mind if I sit here?” She teasingly asked Lex and Tim who were already digging into their food.

“Why yes,” Tim smiled at her with whipped cream in the corners of his mouth.

“You may.” Lex finished, bowing her head. She was meticulously snapping the stems off the strawberries she had on her plate that was full of fruits and jello. 

Sara giggled with them as she sat down. The chicken wings, while cold, were still so good. They were smokey with a bit of sweetness. The grapes were refreshingly sweet, if not a little odd to eat since they were room temperature. She ate one roll first, and despite being slightly chewy, it was still buttery and warm. Then she dug into her pasta. Sara haphazardly wiped the sauce she slurped up and got on her face off with the back of her hand. She made a scene of slurping up the pasta and got a few giggles and similar slurping noises from Lex and Tim. She used her second roll to soak up the sauce left on her plate and shovel the too-small-to-be-forked-up pieces of pasta up onto her fork. Before she could get in two bites of her chocolate cake, a pain shot up her arm so quickly she cried out in pain and dropped her silverware. 

“Sara??” Tim jumped in his seat, startled by the sudden noise and movement.

“Are you okay?” Lex asked, her eyes wide with worry.

“I’m fine.” Sara lied, waving them off. She staggered to her feet, “you guys stay here in case Alan comes back. I,” she turned away so they wouldn’t see the silent gasp of pain she took, “I think I need ice for my arm.” She said and she quickly scurried to the other door in the dining area.

Sure enough her earlier assumption was right, the first door on her right was the kitchen. She turned the lights on, squinting at the gleaming stainless steel surfaces everywhere. Sara frowned after taking it in for a moment. “Spared no expense.” She muttered to herself. There were rows of food prep stations, a wall of sinks, a few ovens and stove tops scattered along the outer wall, and—“bingo!”—a walk-in freezer. There was bound to be ice in there. Sara walked over, yanking the freezer door open with all the might her right arm could manage. The suction that gave way was loud, and immediately a cold breeze tickled her face and legs. Sara was careful stepping in, not wanting to slip on the slick floor of the freezer. There were frozen fish, vegetables, fruit, pork, chicken, anything Sara presumed could be frozen was stuffed in this little walk-in freezer.  
No ice though. At least. No sanitized ice. Sara supposed if she wanted to she could break an icicle off one of the hanging fish or off one of the shelves and use that, but she’d been looking for crushed ice.

Just as she was about to give up, the lights clicked off behind her. She snapped around, heart racing as she saw Lex and Tim clinging to each other for dear life and running to the end of one of the rows of prep counters. “Lex? Tim? What’s—” she paused. They came running in for a reason. Then she heard it. Something was breathing.

Out in the hall. 

It was barely audible over the hum of the freezer.

But it was there.

Sara slipped her way out of the freezer, not bothering to stop and close the door, and immediately dropped to the floor. She crawled between the last row of prep stations and the counters on the wall and peeked around at the door. “What is it?” Sara whispered, hoping the kids heard her. The door knob was jingling and Sara crept further back to keep from being seen. She reached the end of her row and peeked around at the kids. They were clinging to each other for dear life, and Lex was trembling like a leaf in a hurricane.

“It’s a velociraptor.” Tim whispered, turning to look at Sara with tears in his eyes.

They heard the door open. Sara peeked over the tops of the counters. A thin, bird-like head poked inside. Sara’s heart just about stopped beating. She ducked back down. The velociraptor stepped inside, its thick killer claw tapping on the tile floor. Sara felt like she might puke from all the anxiety building up in her. She had only caught a glimpse of the killing machine that was no less than twenty feet away from her. It was sleek and muscular, with powerful looking legs and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It was brownish green in color, with darker markings along its neck and back. It had golden-green eyes that were no doubt scanning the room. She heard it sniff around for a moment before raising it let out a caw-like cry. 

It was hunting them.

Sara turned and tried to wave the kids over to her. Just when it seemed like they would crawl over they heard a second set of powerful footsteps. A second one approached and was snipped at by the first. They chirped and snarled at each other before stalking down the first row. Sara waved at them to move. She turned and started crawling towards the front wall of the kitchen, where the freezer door was still open. She could see faint shadows of the floor, the kids crawling the opposite direction of the raptors movements. Sara’s right arm ached at holding her up, but she had to be ready to run. Every muscle in her body was tightly wound, ready for an opportunity to run. One of the raptors turned and knocked over about a dozen pots and pans. She could see the shadows of the kids split into two. One stayed at the end of a row, while the other went to the opposite end. Sara felt like she was going to cry. She was so terrified. But she stayed low and silent. Then, one of the raptors jumped onto the prep stations and Sara could see its silhouette on the wall beside her. 

It was toying with them. 

Suddenly, something fell with a clatter, and Sara wasn’t sure if it was the freezer being left open that made her cold, or the cold sweat dripping down her forehead, back, and chest. She could hear curious snarls and chirps from the raptors as they investigated the noise, but instead of a terrifying scream she heard another clattering sound as one of the kids tapped an instrument on the ground.

One of the raptors let out an ear-splitting cry, and Sara heard its muscular legs pound on the floor before bashing into the stainless steel appliances on the wall behind her. Lex suddenly came scurrying around the corner, but before Sara could say or do anything to find Tim, he flew right by her (even with his limp). A second ear-splitting screech rang in her ears and Sara screamed as the second raptor flew by and slipped into the freezer.

“Go! Go! Lex! Go!” Sara stumbled to her feet and helped Tim slam the freezer door shut. Lex joined them, screaming as she slammed her entire body weight against the door. Tim fumbled with the latch, securing it so the raptor was locked inside. Sara immediately grabbed him and pulled him towards the exit. Lex followed right behind her and Sara screamed half in fear and joy when she saw Alan in the dining room with Ellie and a gun.

“Ellie!”

“Sara!”

The two embraced, and Ellie desperately clung to her and Tim. Lex ran to Alan and grabbed onto him, “it’s in there!” She panted out breathlessly, pointing back towards the kitchen. Alan raised the gun, his eyebrows knitted in determination, but Ellie turned to him before he could make his move.

“The Control Room.” She ordered. They backed out of the dining hall and ran to the Control Room. At this point, Sara was ignoring the pain in her feet, slowing down meant death, and she wouldn’t risk anyone else’s safety for her sake. Alan took Tim from Sara and Ellie, supporting him as they ran, so they could run at full speed.

“We can call for help?” Lex asked as Ellie threw open the door.

“We gotta reboot the system first!” Ellie said, jumping down and rushing to the nearest computer.

Alan passed Tim to Sara as he slammed the door behind them. “You alright?” She asked Tim as he looked around in a daze, “Take a breath.” Sara reassured him.

“The door locks.” Alan grunted, the mechanism to lock the door not moving, “Ellie, boot up the door locks.”

Sara screamed when she looked up from Tim, “Alan!”

He turned and braced himself just in time to stop a raptor from bursting through the door. Ellie turned back and screamed in frustration as she ran back to help Alan keep the door closed. “No! Boot up the door locks!” He ordered her.

“You can’t hold this by yourself!” Ellie screamed back as the raptor panted and screamed on the other side of the door.

Sara saw Alan was no longer holding the gun and she scanned the floor. She found the giant shotgun had flown across the room. She staggered to it and picked it up. “Sara! The gun!” Alan called. 

In a panic, she turned it towards the door— “No!” “Careful!” Alan and Ellie screamed.

Frozen in fear, Sara just kept the gun aimed at the door. She could barely keep it up with one arm, and it swayed dangerously around, aiming at the wall, Alan, Ellie, and the floor. She should take her shot, but she couldn’t get a good shot at the raptor with Alan and Ellie in the way. She staggered and swayed on her feet, her vision going blurry and then multiplying as she saw double of everything.

“Come on, Lex!” Tim screamed from the computer.

“Sara! Give me the gun!” Alan shouted. Knocked out of her stupor, Sara ran forward and gave Alan the gun. She screamed because she knew this next part would hurt—! She slammed her upper body against the door, helping close the door just in time to hear an electronic hiss and feel the door lock slide into place.

“Yes!” “Yes!” Lex and Tim cheered.

The three ran over, “what works?” Sara asked, seeing Lex had started the park up on her own. The next monitor over flashed green, showing all the locks were back online.

“Phones, security systems,” Lex answered breathlessly in awe of herself, “you name it, we got it.” 

Alan picked up the phone beside them and Sara took this moment to turn and collapse against Ellie in tears.

“God, it’s been awful.” She cried. Ellie held her tightly, but was careful of her arm.

“What happened to you all?” She asked, turning to also look over the kids. 

The kids immediately began telling her everything that happened after they left her with Dr. Harding yesterday. _“God, it hasn’t even been a day yet at this point.”_ Sara thought, exhaustion slowly setting in. Sara recalled that at this time yesterday she was...in the theater crying. Sara’s ears started ringing and their voices grew distant as she saw the velociraptor climb its way through the theater and slam its body against the glass once—twice—

“It’s trying to come through the glass!” Sara let out a blood curdling scream, as soon as she had said it Alan fired off three shots.

He abandoned the gun, and he and Ellie scrambled around the room to pull a ladder to the center of the room. Sara climbed up first on the proper side, with Lex and Tim climbing the opposite. Ellie and Alan brought up the read and Alan kicked the ladder down as they climbed into the ceiling. 

_”Thank God for this crawl space.”_ Sara thought as they crawled towards a light. No sooner had Sara, Tim, and Alan crossed a vent, when Lex let out a scream.

They turned back to see a raptor had jumped up and was clinging to the ceiling in an attempt to crawl into the space. It just so happens that Lex was still on the ceiling tile the raptor had pushed up. Alan turned around and kicked its face twice before it finally let go and dropped to the ground. Lex caught herself on the edge, screaming and crying for help. Alan and Ellie pulled her back up and they crawled faster. Sara was all but ignoring the pain in her arm now, her life was on the line, and she couldn’t let something like the worst pain she had ever experienced in her life stop her. They came out of a vent that led to the atrium of the Visitor’s Center. They climbed out onto scaffolding and started to climb down when a screech stopped them all in their tracks. The raptor had left the Control Room and was now on the second story, hissing and snarling at them.

“Go! Go! Go!” Alan started pushing them onto the skeleton of the brachiosaurus. Ellie ended up on the tail of the skeleton, Lex was on the neck, and Alan, Sara, and Tim were all clinging to the ribs. The velociraptor let out a screech and jumped onto the skeleton, breaking it apart into chunks. The skeleton spun around dangerously, only suspended by the wires in the ceiling. 

Sara’s mind and body were on autopilot as she fought to stay on the ribcage. “Let go!” Alan shouted at her.

“What?!” She screamed back at him.

“Do it!” Alan argued.

Sara had trusted so far—she let go with a scream, landing next to Tim who screamed as the ribcage came crashing down around them. She turned and covered her head just in time to avoid the debris that came down with the skeleton. “Come on!” Alan yanked her and Tim to their feet. Lex was on the floor and she let out a scream. She was face to face with the raptor. She scurried back beside the three of them and stood in the safety of the group. They quickly backed up, nearly tripping over Ellie, who was facing the opposite direction. Another scream made them turn and stare down a second raptor and then—

They were trapped.

The raptors were too quick. 

There was no way they would escape.

The raptor in front of them lowered itself to the ground, snarling and clicking at them as it readied itself to pounce. Just as it screamed and pushed off in a pounce, a large head pushed through the tarp wall and snatched it out of the air with its jaws. The group had flinched, but after a second Sara looked up in fear and awe at the T-Rex viciously shaking the raptor around. With the momentary distraction, the five were able to sneak out the front door.

John was waiting for them with a gas-powered jeep, and Dr. Malcolm, injured, but alive, was in the back seat.

“Mr. Hammond,” Alan said as they jumped into the jeep. Sara and the kids in the back, Alan in the front with Ellie half on his lap, half on the center console, “after careful consideration, I have decided—not to endorse your park.”

“So have I.” John agreed grimly as they peeled away from the Visitor’s Center.

The ride was fast and silent, with only questions of who was hurt and to what extent being passed around. Ian was asking her about the welts on her neck, but she didn’t respond. Some injuries she was numb to, others ached so much they burned. She couldn’t believe everything that had transpired had only taken up less than twenty-fours hours of her life. Just a day ago Sara had been admiring the greenery and John’s joyful smile, now she was staring at her filthy hands trying very hard not to cry.

When they made it to the helicopter pad, Sara nearly cried out in relief to see a helicopter was already waiting for them. Alan jumped out to open the electrified gates, he slammed them shut as they passed through, and ran straight for the helicopter. He spoke with the pilot before running back to the jeep. He helped Ellie get Lex and Tim into the helicopter. John helped Alan with Ian—his leg was wrapped, but she could see it was bloodied and mangled. Sara climbed out of the jeep next. She looked back towards the direction of the park, and though it was hard to hear over the running helicopter motor, she could have sworn she heard a Brachiosaurus cry out. Ellie gently grabbed her arm. Sara was pulled from her thoughts as she turned and let Ellie help her into the helicopter. Sara let out a tiny groan as exhaustion finally sett in. Ellie, Alan, and John finally climbed in and the pilot slammed the doors shut.

Sara sat between Ian and Ellie, angrily and tiredly wiping her tears away. Across from her John sat silently in the corner, and the kids leaned against Alan, already falling asleep. She turned to look at John and for a moment she considered grabbing her camera to snap a picture. 

He was staring dejectedly at his cane, which Sara now realized was topped with a bit of ember with a mosquito inside, turning it over in his hand as the sunlight reflected off the ocean into his watery eyes. 

The scene was perfect if she wanted to capture the downfall of man’s hubris, but it felt too raw...it felt too personal. So, Sara leaned her head back and closed her eyes, praying the visions of teeth and death would fade away with time.


End file.
